Someone Will Bleed
by MidnightRhymer
Summary: She was the Vampire Princess. Reluctant, angry, and in love with life as she knew it. He, destined to die young. How could it ever work? HP/OC mentions of HP/DM, possible slash Murder, Rape, Child Abuse, Pregnancy. Rating subject to change
1. Family Ties

Someone Will Bleed

Preface- Family Ties

If she hadn't known better, Aurora would have sworn that Harry Potter was staring at her awkwardly. While part of her aknowledged the fact, the rest simply concentrated on keeping the glamour over the celtic knot crown of venom on her head. She had never once used glamour before, and she knew that, if she were to hide the fact that she was the Vampire Princess (the thought drew an exasperated sigh from her), she would _have_ to keep the crown hidden until it faded at midnight. It was already a well known fact that she was a Wiccan, and her connection to the Earth allowed her to help out with the Order despite the fact that she was barely seventeen, thus she didn't need any help attracting a target. _Oh, if Marcus could see you know, Ms. I'll-Never-Use-Glamour_, she thought grimly. Marcus Flint had teased her incessantly in his seventh year because, not only was she the _only_ female player on the team (having replaced Malfoy after his disaterous career as Seeker), she didn't use glamour like every other girl in Slytherin. She was only now beginning to understand that Flint had admired her for the fact. Now, a seventh year herself, she was captain of the Quidditch team and she was prepared to make Potter eat Pitch Dirt, so to speak. She'd practiced incessantly over the summer with her cousin, captain of the only vampire team in the league. Bleeding Hearts was in the running to become favored for the Cup, and Aurora knew that. Her cousin, also a seeker, had drilled her on tactics, strategy, and feints. She had drawn up a whole new playbook for the team and was holding tryouts. The announcement on the bulliten board, done on Slytherin green paper with silver ink, proclaimed that prior team status would be calculated, but would not gurantee a spot on the new team. In spelled ink beneath that, she said that she would also be weeding out supporters of the Dark Lord, so none of them were to try out if they didn't want to die.

All in all, she thought it was a good ploy.

She felt a hand on the back of her robes and suddenly she was hauled out of her seat as if she were light as a feather. She recognized the billowing black robes and wondered what the hell she had done to get Snape pissed at her already.

"If this is about my helping Hagrid's pumpkins along last year, I'll have you know that there's nothing in the rule book preventing me from-"

A hand over her mouth silenced her as Snape sat her down in the Entrance Hall.

"You should be under the protection of the Phoenix Guard in the Ice Palace, not parading around at Hogwarts like nothing happened to you over the summer," Snape hissed. For the first time in Aurora's short life, she could see real concern in her eyes.

"I'll be fine, Professor," she said, shocked into formality. Her mother and Snape were good friends and she had called him Severus for as long as she could remember. Considering she wasn't in regular potions, she could get away with it. Well, that, and a few other circumstances.

"Is it your intention, then, to continue on as if you weren't Vampire Princess? Any one of your house-mates could reveal to their parents your identity and then you would be in some serious trouble, now wouldn't you?" Snape hissed. "I want you on the train home."

"I'll not be seen as a coward, _Severus_," she growled, wrenching away from him. "My mother has held her head high for the last nineteen years knowing that she would never back down from a challenge and I won't either."

"Victoria would agree with me in this instance," Snape replied.

"I am of age now," Aurora said with narrowed eyes. "My mother's opinion holds no sway over what it is that I do. Be thankful I haven't broadcasted it to the whole hall by dropping the glamour. I will not cower in fear before a man who is beneath me, damnit."

"So this is a ploy to prove your bravery?"

"William and Liam are in the forest right now, securing the school's perimeter. My own contingent of guards will be here tomorrow. I am not stupid enough to come back without some protection, if that is what you are implying. Aside from that, I would rather Voldemort focus his attentions on me than my mother. At least here, I am protected by Dumbledore. He would not try to recruit me until..."

Aurora trailed off, remembering that she wasn't supposed to know what it was that Severus was doing for the Headmaster.

"By then, I will be well on my way to the Ice Palace to begin training for the Guard," she finished, allowing the unspoken notion to drift over them. Without a word, she placed an alabaster hand on his shoulder. "I will be fine. For once in your god-forsaken, shat-on life, worry about yourself."

Aurora had a feeling it would be a long year, especially with her... dare she think it, _father_ looking over her shoulder.

_A/N: Reviews equal chapters. Bad language in the next chapter (and every one after that, since she is, after all, a teenager; full of cursing)_

_Midnight_


	2. I Walk the Line

Chapter One- I Walk The Line

Aurora scheduled the try-outs for the next Saturday, giving herself time to think about what it was she wanted. She had made a checklist and put it on a clipboard, but it was slowly gathering items. Already, it was a half a roll of parchment long and involved numerous aspects, including sportsmanship demonstrated. Fortunately, she already had an idea of how to handle the situation. So, with an open mind and an optimistic mind set (she had offered her prayers to the Mother, of course), she approached Pansy Parkinson without a word. She laid a single hand on the vast expanse of leather beside Pansy on the couch and watched with inner satisfaction as she jumped.

"What do you want?" Pansy snapped, her hand over her heart.

"Well, with that attitude, I'll just cross you off my list of chasers," Aurora said, turning.

"Wait a minute," Pansy said, jumping up and moving in front of her. "I was just scared, that's all. How can I help?"

"I know," Aurora smiled, and she put an arm around Pansy's shoulders. "And, between you and me, you already have a spot so don't suck up."

"What do you mean; already have a spot?" Pansy asked quietly.

"I saw you in your backyard on my way home from Surrey. It was an impressive game and, personally, I really don't want to be the only girl this year."

Pansy smiled sympathetically.

"I need an assistant coach; someone I can trust to help me with the paperwork and the try-outs. You'll have to make a good show at the try-outs, of course (show the boys what real chasing looks like) but other than that you'll only have to keep an eye on the players waiting."

"Paperwork?" Pansy asked.

"Well, Dumbledore asked me to name a successor at the end of the year and I really don't want to leave them empty handed. I plan on keeping records through the year and I'm no good at organization," Aurora said, gesturing to her desk, cluttered with parchment and quills as it was.

"Obviously," Pansy said with a smile. It faded however, as she turned to the elder witch. "I thought you weren't accepting anyone with suspected Death Eater affiliations. It's well known that my parents are Death Eaters."

"Show me your arms," Aurora said softly, with all the care of a patient lover.

Pansy rolled up the sleeves of her top and held out both arms. Neither had a tattoo on them, although Aurora noticed that there were several scars, obviously self inflicted. _To each her own_, she said, thinking of the knitting needles hidden under her bed and the dagger in her night stand as well as the scars on her upper arms.

"I don't see a single sliver of tattoo on either arm. The brand of Voldemort cannot be glamoured; I know that damn well. I didn't say Death Eater affiliations; I said supporters of Voldemort," Aurora explained. "I'm living proof that the child does not follow the parent."

Pansy smiled softly. "What do I need to do?"

Harry looked very cross. His bed was full of people, the curtains were charmed closed, and everything was silenced, despite the lack of people in the Tower. It was Saturday, and a warm one at that; everyone was on the grounds. Still, his friends refused to believe him, all except Luna and Neville. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all thought the other three were nuts.

"I'm telling you, right before she came into the Great Hall there was a crown of crimson Celtic knots on her forehead and then it was gone!" Harry said sharply.

"I'm not saying you didn't see it, Harry," Hermione said finally. "It's possible. I just... do you even know what that means?"

"Not the foggiest, but obviously it's important," Harry huffed.

"Damn right it's important, mate," Ron said, sitting up. "A crown of crimson Celtic knots is the mark of the Vampire Princess."

"The what?" Harry asked.

"The Vampire Princess." It was Luna, not Hermione, who answered. "Vampires have a nation all their own, although they mostly live among us. Traditionally, a vampire comes of age at seventeen. They're then placed in one of three classes. Lower, Common, and Noble classes have three categories. Lower class vampires are Killers, Scrags, or Animal vampires. Common class vampires are Farmers, Crafters, or Warriors. Noble classes are Phoenix Guards, Council-men, or Royalty. Killers can advance to Common class and Warriors can advance to Noble class. Council members come from one of three regions; three from every region. Two are from the Common class, the other is an elder member of the Phoenix Guard. They represent the will of the vampiric nation. Royalty consists of, at max, four vampires; King, Queen, Prince, and Princess. The King vampire wears a true crown made of white roses, the Queen of black. The Prince wears a venom crown, temporarily or whenever called upon, of blue Celtic knots, the Princess of red. When they come of age, their marks fully develop and they can do whatever they please. If the Princess _is_ at Hogwarts, she's likely chosen to stay in defiance of her safety in order to prove that she is not afraid."

Harry was thunderstruck. He couldn't believe that Luna had just explained something in a way that made sense to him. Instead of remaining silent, he asked a question. "Why would coming back to Hogwarts proove she isn't afraid?"

"Voldemort has been after vampiric support since the first war. The Queen has never... bought... it... good God! What's the true last name of Queen Victoria?" Hermione said suddenly.

"Serpentus," Ron said automatically. He then sat up straighter. "Aurora?"

"Harry; was the girl wearing Slytherin robes?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied, confused.

"With black hair and green eyes?"

"Yeah."

"Head Girl crest pinned to her robes up by the fold?"

"I think."

"Aurora Serpentus... why didn't we see that coming?" Ron asked.

"Because she never looked the part," Neville whispered.

"What do you mean?" Harry said, turning to Neville.

"Traditionally, vampire royals are spoiled rotten. Every Queen they've had in the past was bad. Even Victoria's mother was terrible. But, she died in child-birth. Victoria went to the Prince family. She was raised by their daughter, Eileen Prince. Prince was married to a Muggle who abused both her and her own child, along with Victoria. She values life and has taught her daughter the same; thus, no one ever suspected that Aurora was Princess because Victoria took the... the name... the name of the man who abused her..."

"What was it?" Harry asked.

"Snape."

"We are not having this discussion," Aurora said, her hands plastered over her ears.

"Oh, yes we are, young lady," Severus said, peeling his daugher's hands away from her ears. "Have you slept with him?"

Aurora, eyes narrowed, crossed her arms over her chest and turned away. "I have Quidditch trials to run, Prefect schedules to make, and a successor in both to name and you want to talk about my sex life!"

"To the best of my knowledge, you're having Pansy Parkinson work up a table of trials for Chasers and Beaters. You've already got one set up for both Seeker and Keeper positions. Not only that, but you passed the baton on Prefect schedules, having made the girl's schedules yourself. As for the successor part, Dumbledore wants it by December, not the first day of classes!" Snape hissed. "Now, I want an answer, damnit."

"No! I haven't fucked him yet and I'm not planning on doing it _any time soon_!" she shouted finally, abandoning caution and the idea that he might slap her.

Flesh on flesh rang out in the room and Aurora felt the sting of his hand on her cheek. "I don't care how you speak around the guard, but you will not use that filthy tongue while I'm around, understand."

"Fuck you! I'll say what I want, damnit," she hissed. She braced as his hand flew back. "Slap me again. I dare you."

Newborn magic flared in the room, and Snape suddenly realized that she could kill him if she wanted to. Regardless of what he believed, he knew she was not pure by the fact that there was already a ring of roses around her right wrist. It would only grow greater with the more partners she claimed over the years. There were only three roses on it now, but Severus knew that by the end of her long, long life, she would possibly have a full arm of roses. Hell, she could probably have a whole arm by the end of the year if she wanted to, with the way she was acting.

"When?" he asked softly, having grasped the fact that the little eleven year old who had first walked into his potions classroom, with hair black as his own and eyes like her mother, was dead, just as Aurora had shouted at him the year before.

"Fourth year," Aurora said quietly.

She had never known her father to care about her, in any way, shape, or form. Severus Snape was a cold man, and he had every right to be. He'd gone from abusive home, to abusive school-mates, to abusive servitude (which, she maintained, was his own stupidity more than anything), and was now controlled by not one puppet master, but two! Severus had no time for compassion and she understood that. The fact that he felt anything at all for her meant the world to her. But, to go from her loving, understanding mother to a cold man holding on to the image of the innocent little eleven year old who had first walked into his classroom full of fifth years for OWL potions (and had beat them all) was difficult. She sometimes lost sight of which was which. Now, to see the man's concern and compassion written on his face was surprising.

"Who?" he asked, words failing him.

She looked down at the roses. What he did not know, and hopefully would never know, was that the amount of petals corresponded directly to the amount of times union occurred. Every rose started with nine petals and it increased by two from there. The size of the roses let her know which was which. The largest was the first one she traced.

"Fred Weasley," she said softly before her fingers moved to the medium sized rose. "Marcus Flint," she whispered before moving to the smallest, her newest and unrepeatable conquest coming to mind. She knew he would not be happy. "Spike."

She was wrong. Severus wasn't unhappy. He was pissed.

"SPIKE?" he snarled, grabbing the closest vial and throwing it against the wall, causing it to shatter and her to jump a foot in the air.

"Hey, it was either him or Malfoy," Aurora said defensively before she shuddered. "And it was not my idea, either."

"Whose was it, then? His?"

"Mom's."

"Your _mother_?"

"Well... she didn't outright say that that was what she wanted, but she did imply that she wouldn't care if it happened."

She recrossed her arms and narrowed her eyes again, challenging him to say anything.

"Why a Weasley?" Snape said, diverting his attention until he could find a way to safely bottle his rage; he would unleash it on Victoria at earliest convenience.

"Because... it was fun, he was interesting, and I was drunk. That was the week Malfoy broke my arm, so, naturally, I went out and got pissed."

"Naturally," Snape said with a cluck of the tongue; he knew that her mother could hold liquor and it seemed that Aurora had inherited the talent.

"Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll be going now," Aurora hissed, moving to stand. Snape put one hand on each arm of the chair and glared her back into it.

"We have not even gotten to the topic I want to discuss," he said with narrowed eyes.

"Which is?" she huffed. She already knew, of course, but that knowledge didn't help her in any way, shape, or form to construct a feasable answer.

"Why you have not begun the courting process with your mate when you know damned well that courting you will give him immense power; power enough, possibly, to protect him," Snape hissed.

Aurora drew a silent breath and closed her eyes. There were so many reasons to throw herself at her mate. Power, protection, the transformation he would undergo; all would aid him. But she had one last, selfish desire to indulge in before she even considered him. She wanted to come into her own first. She didn't want to deal with all the stress of being mated to _him_ while she was trying to find herself. And Snape would not understand because his sense of duty was absolute; had been since he had foresaken his own freedom to protect his one true love, even when she chose his most hated rival over him. The young princess felt a stab of tears in her eyes at the knowledge that Snape had loved Lily... had loved her more than he cared for her mother. That was why she hadn't known him until Hogwarts. That was why her mother had hidden his identity from her for so long. The pain that she had seen whenever he looked at her was not for love lost; it was for mistakes made. _A mistake. That's all you've ever been is a mistake._

"Because I'm not ready,"Aurora said, amending her answer slightly.

"Well, according to those roses on your arm you're more than ready," Snape growled.

Finally, it dawned on Aurora why he was pissed. "Just because you promised his mother that you would protect him does not mean you get to use me to do it!" she whispered. "Just because I'm the third wheel in this does not mean I have to do your bidding. I'll not keep your promises for you, damnit."

"I'm not asking you to do that," Snape said, sitting down heavily across from her. "I'd never ask that of you. And I don't want to catch that roving thought of being a mistake in your head again. You may be a mistake, but you're the best mistake we ever made."

Aurora hid her smile behind a cold, calm mask of indifference.

"I'm asking you to protect yourself. You know what happens if he dies," Snape said softly.

"Of course I know what happens if he dies," Aurora said darkly. "I get sixty days to set my affairs in order and then you and mum have to make another mistake."

"Believe me when I say once was quite enough. I'm a bit older now than I was then and I doubt I could keep up," Snape said, cracking the first smile she'd seen on him since she'd showed up at Spinner's End during the summer.

_ Stumbling blearily down the path, her head and arms burning, she could feel his presence go from drowsily aware to alert in moments. The pendant around her neck, given to her by her mother, alerted him to her proximity. She knew, just by the reek, that Narcissa and Bellatrix had come and gone. Her senses were heightening and it was even more maddening then the last spurt she had the year previously. The brand had formed on her left wrist and then she had spent three days in bed, covered head to toe as her temperature dropped and rose and dropped and rose. She'd awoken to find that the castle, once comfortable to her heightened body heat, was now unexpectedly too cold. She'd expected it to be quite warm for her, but it appeared that a thirty degree drop in temperature made the drafty halls seem like the tundra._

_ She almost doubled over in pain on the door step as she waited for Severus to send Wormtail away. In closing her eyes, she could see clearly through his eyes that the stubborn rat refused to leave until Snape told him what was going on. "I have... company of the female persuasion, Wormtail, and I'd rather not have to deal with you."_

_ Aurora blushed a brilliant crimson, not realizing that her father knew such innuendo. __**So much for being a cold hearted bastard.**_

_ "I heard that," he drawled slowly, looking at her. She was shivering inside the large leather overcoat that was Spike's, and she knew instantly that it had been a bad idea to steal it from him. If the smell of sex had drifted onto it, however, Snape took no notice. "What, pray tell, has struck you so boldly that you felt the need to turn up on my doorstep when you know very well this place is not safe?"_

_ He had moved back from the door, and the second Aurora stepped into the house, she collapsed on the ground. Snape, for the first time in his life, panicked. He slammed the door shut and crouched next to her._

_ "Aurora," Snape said softly. "Aurora, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's happening."_

_ "The... the change... it's... it hurts..." she moaned, giving up on the idea of hiding her pain. For some reason, Snape found this funny._

_ "You know, you're stronger than most. Your mother collapsed with the first wave of it," Snape said as he lifted her bridal style. "You can stay here until the first wave is over. After that, you're to go to the Ice Palace."_

_ "Nmmm... I... I want to stay... stay here..." she said softly. "Want to... celebrate... my birthday... with... with you."_

Snape had allowed her to stay until the day after her birthday, just three short days before she was to board the Hogwarts Express for the last time. The next morning found her with a bandage across her forehead and around both wrists, cooking breakfast while Wormtail cowered in fear in a corner. Every so often, she shot him a glare. She plated everything on a tray and turned just as Snape stepped onto the first floor landing.

_Nope. Go back upstairs_ she had told him. While still groggy, he remembered that she was the acting lady company that he had told Wormtail about the night before. Obviously, she had heard it too; Aurora had snuck into his room and grabbed one of his oversized shirts to put on, making it appear that she had spent the night there. They had had a good time until the Dark Lord summoned him. After that, the last time she had seen him smile was on her birthday, when she blew out the candles on the strawberry cake he made for her. Her wish, as yet unfullfilled, was that he would live to see her eighteenth birthday (when her hair would grow a foot and a half longer and all her skills would fully develop) as a free man. In her heart, her second part of the wish was that both her parents would be willing to celebrate it together; good friends or not, Aurora had never before been permitted to see Snape outside school after turning eleven. She had envoked her mother's wrath just by refusing to go to the Ice Palace. She'd wandered around London those last three days, talking with Spike and Angel. Aurora was certain that allowing her to sleep with Spike had been an attempt to coax her back to the Ice Palace, but she had only tried it once, just to see what it was like to fuck another vampire.

"You never did tell me what task he assigned you when you were summoned."

"He wants me to find out the identity of the Vampire Princess."

Harry could hear a loud argument coming toward him in the dungeons. He was interrogating Blaise Zabini when he heard Snape's voice roar with rage and pain. Without warning, he sprinted down the hall toward the sound and hid in an alcove off to the side.

"I'm not going to sit here and let you fail! Give him my name!" shouted a female voice.

"I'm not going to sacrifice my _daughter_ for my own safety! I'll do no such thing!" Snape shouted in reply.

"Then I'll offer myself up on a silver platter with all the trimmings," she said, and Harry could hear the sincerity in her voice.

"No you will not!"

"Give him my name."

"No."

"That's your only alternative; you give him my name, or I give him me," she said, and they rounded the corner so that Harry could see them, although they could not yet see him.

It was Aurora. The crown of knots was gone and Harry didn't sense any glamour, meaning that they had faded just like Luna said they would. It took four days after the coming of age for them to fade, meaning that she had come of age just three days before boarding the Hogwarts Express. She'd been helping out the Order at age sixteen, not seventeen. Dumbledore and Remus had lied.

"I could always chain you in the dungeons."

"I'll melt the chain."

"I'll make them indestructable."

"And I'll reverse the spell."

"Are you always this stubborn or just when you're committing suicide?"

"Only where you're concerned."

Snape narrowed his eyes at her. So focussed was Harry on the argument that he didn't see Snape's wand until it was too late.

"_Levicorpus_!" he shouted. Harry felt his feet come out from under him as Snape brought him up in the air with his head pointed the wrong direction.

"Put me down!" Harry shouted. Aurora, he could see, was chuckling. Somehow, that made him relax a fraction, although he had no idea why.

"Spying on my conversations are we?" Snape said. "I think that'll be worth fifty points and a few weeks of-"

"Don't start," Aurora said crossly. "If you stopped acting like an asshole, maybe people wouldn't treat you like one."

"What did I say about that tongue of yours?" Snape sneered, but he put Harry down none-the-less. "What did you hear, Potter?"

"That Voldemort wants you to find the name of the Vampire Princess," Harry said. "Through powers of deduction, I've come to the conclusion that she," he gestured toward Aurora, "Is the Vampire Princess and she is also your daughter."

"That about sums it up," Aurora said, offering him a hand.

When their palms touched, it was like an electric current passed through the both of them. Both teens jumped back, and Snape looked very smug. Daughter glared at father (very teen-like, for a princess) and pulled Harry up despite the current. The tingling sensation, however, remained in Harry's palm.

"Do you believe me now?" Snape said darkly.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Shut up," Aurora hissed.

It was almost a parseltongue hiss, and Harry had to fight to keep from replying in kind. It was eerie.

Aurora, on the other hand, sent a mental message to her father.

_Let me handle this. Please._

_Alright, ladies and gents; I mean it this time. I want more than one review, although I deeply appreciate the lovely review by BlackAngel. Please? Pretty please? And I promise I won't old chapter two hostage without good reason (or Harry's wand... whichever I get first) ;)_

_Blessed be,_

_Midnight_


	3. Handling It

Chapter Two- Handling It

Three weeks passed before Harry spoke to Aurora again. By that point, she had taken to sitting in on Snape's Defense classes, since, apparently, she had passed all her N.E. early and was only waiting out the rest of the year under the protection of Dumbledore and Snape. She had, obviously, convinced him to tell Voldemort her name, since she had a very smug look on her face when she subbed in for him after he ran out, having been summoned. It was during that class that she approached Harry for the first time since the dungeon corridor incident.

"Dad wouldn't want me doing this," she said after casting _muffliato_ around them. "He'd call me nuts. Mom, too. Not that I care about her opinion, but still..."

It was obvious that she had to struggle to refer to Snape as Dad, although she seemed happy to try to change her habits. Her hair was deep purple that day, although Harry knew it wasn't glamour. He and Luna had discussed vampiric traits after the lightning-bolt-through-the-palms incident. While Luna had put his fears about her being able to shoot lightning with her hands (which led to many a dream about her striking him down with a thunderbolt) to rest, she had awoken new ones when she revealed that many vampires and their mates' experianced a similar pheomenon when they first had physical contact with each other. The idea of being mated to the Vampire Princess wasn't so bad; it was the idea of being mated to Snape's daughter that bothered Harry just a little, considering that Snape was in love with his dead mother.

"Why?" Harry asked softly. "We're just talking."

"Bullshit," Aurora said sourly. "You felt the shock, same as me. And I know you've been talking to Luna. Her mom studied vampires; even went so far as to publish a report on her findings including an interview with my mother. I know damn well you know what that means."

"Why would they call you nuts?" Harry said, playing for time.

"Because I'm about to ask you to leave me alone for the next three months."

Harry gaped at her. He'd been expecting a marriage proposal, perhaps a sex time-table, maybe even them running away together; anything but being asked to wait. And, seeing his gape, Aurora chuckled.

"I don't mean leave me alone as in avoid me at all costs. I mean that I'm not about to push you into this, regardless of what old dungeon bat tells me to do," she said with a smile. "I want (pardon me if this seems odd) to get to know you. That, and I want time to get to know me."

"What do you mean?"

"In fourth year, I was holding on to the hope that, maybe, the vampire gene would skip me and move on to the next generation. I had hopes that I could pick who I got to fall in love with. I was... a lot different. I haven't really had the time in the last three years to think over who I really am anymore. I was hoping to get the chance to do that this summer, but I ended up running around like a chicken with its head cut off to keep from spending every damn day in the Ice Palace. So, this year is my last chance. I know what's in the works, I know what's at stake, and I'm not going to risk it. Give me three months to get to know you and me, and we'll see where it goes."

Harry, dumbstruck, nodded his head as she released the charm she'd cast and stood up. The other students listened expectantly, but she merely smiled.

"How many can properly cast _levicorpus_?" Aurora asked softly, standing at the head of the class. Everyone raised their hand.

"In all honesty, how many of you even _know_ what _adicruento_ means, let alone how to use it?" she said softly. The Slytherins and Hermione raised their hands. "Ms. Granger, if you please?"

"_Adicruento_ is an ancient spell used to litterally drain the blood from the victim. Vampires used it as opposed to their fangs when the AIDS epidemic began before they realized they were immune," Hermione said. "It's considered by the Ministry to be a dark curse."

"As are, for a matter of fact, a hundred other harmless, ancient Egyptian spells," Aurora said softly. "I'm not legal to teach a practical lesson, so we're going to have a theoretical one. Boys on one side, girls on the other."

Ten girls seperated from twelve boys.

"Ok, we're going to have one... alternative couple," Aurora said with a smile. "Malfoy, Potter. Nott, Parkinson. Zabini, Greengrass. Crabbe, F. Carrow. Goyle, H. Carrow. Dunbar, Patil. Weasley, Granger. Longbottom, Holmes. Finnigan, Fairbourne. Brown, Thomas. Midgen, Pickering!"

Draco and Harry immediately began whining until a glare silenced them.

"I am authorized to take points and give detentions, if anyone doesn't like their partner," she said cheekily. "Now, everyone get with their partners; Slytherin pairs on my right, Gryffindors on the left. Potter and Malfoy, retreat to the back of class and stop bellyaching."

With narrowed eyes, Harry and Draco headed back to the back.

"Since Mr. Malfoy has appropriately been named the Ice Princess, and I've heard the name Gryffindor's Queen used to describe Mr. Potter, this will be our royal couple."

There was many a chuckle on both sides of the room as Harry and Draco glared at each other darkly, their cheeks flushed.

"Draco, you'll be the girl," Aurora said, much to Harry's delight.

"Now, I may be a Slytherin, but that doesn't mean anything at the moment." She waved her wand and the desks stacked themselves behind her. "For all intents and puposes, this just became the royal court of the vampires."

Harry suddenly knew exactly where the discussion was headed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, please walk as regally as possible, together, to the head of the classroom," Aurora said with a snide smile. Harry and Draco began to do so. "This, unfortunately, is how court begins. The King and Queen both (or, in the current case, just the Queen) walk down the center aisle of waiting parties, both noble and common. It is a parade of sorts; servants usually follow them down to pamper them. The Phoenix Guard, represented today by moi," she said, earning a chuckle, "We followed them in through side doors on the hall."

Aurora waved her wand, and the room was bathed in golden glow for a moment before becoming sheer ice and frosty cold. Harry and Draco sat on thrones with long robes overflowing them, and their hands were joined despite many sudden attempts to wrench them apart.

"Professor Snape has been teaching you, for the past three weeks, about vampire society. Court is an intrical part of it."

It was like Aurora wasn't part of the surroundings. There was a group of burly men and women behind the King and Queen; thirty-three, maximum. Black cloaks hid their faces. All the students were suddenly dressed in fine robes and dresses. She, however, was still in plain old Hogwarts robes. There was, however, a crown of knots on her head. They were red.

"Fear is an important factor in court. It keeps everyone in line and under control. That is the main purpose of the Phoenix Guard's presence. Normally, the Prince and Princess would also be up there, but, of course, this is only a memory. The first complaintants to go are the lowest on the chain, usually killers who have become tradesmen, farmers, or warriors."

Theordore Nott and Pansy Parkinson found their feet moving of their own accord. They swept up the center and knelt before King Potter and Queen Malfoy.

"All complaints are heard equally. A judgment can be passed at the time of the complaint, or later in private. During this particular session, the couple you see were killed. They spoke ill of Queen Victoria's resistance of Voldemort," Aurora said. Nott and Parkinson were suddenly back in school robes. "Court has been getting exceedingly dreadful in ways like that."

The next couple to move was Blaise and Daphne.

"These two were shoe-makers from Godric's Hollow. Farmers had neglected to stop by on their route and, as a result, their sixteen year old son died of starvation because he gave up his meals to their three year old daughter. They were granted a lump sum payment and the farmer who neglected them will spend the next five hundred years in the dungeons of the Ice Palace for his trouble."

They returned to Hogwarts robes as well as Parvarti and Dunbar moved toward the king and queen.

"Two farmers whose lands were destroyed by Voldemort. They requested permission to move farmsteads. My mother brought them to the Ice Palace to farm for her. They had four children."

So it went, until at last, only Harry and Draco remained in the illusion.

"The King and Queen are the ultimate power in vampire society. The council can request changes be made, or even present laws, but without the signature of any royal vampire, it does not become law. Complaints go directly to the King and Queen. Those who oppose openly are killed on the spot. Those who use more covert methods are murdered later after a sembalance of a fair trial is conducted. They are judge, jury, and executioner. In the past, the spell I mentioned earlier was used to harvest undesirables so they were not wasted. Anymore, with us taking donors, it is not necessary."

The image faded, and Draco and Harry jumped down and away from each other.

"Last week, you spoke of mating in here. That is, perhaps, the only thing that the King and Queen do not control. Vampiric mating is predestined; they and their mates essentially have no choice. Once a vampire discovers his or her mate, they have exactly three hundred and sixty five days to complete the courting ritual."

"Or what?" Neville asked.

"They spend the last five days of their life in agony, drowing in their own lung tissues until finally they can breathe no more," Aurora said softly.

Harry turned away, his eyes downcast.

"If you don't want this, that's fine," Aurora said softly. It was after classes, and they sat together by the lake, looking out across it. "Just know that what you experianced today was only half the equation. Court is not the King's only responsibility. You are charged with the keeping of all the vampiric warriors. The rest of your life will be spent training them, fighting with them, and, hopefully, keeping them from dying."

"If I don't, you'll die," Harry replied, as if that explained everything.

"Don't be noble; not for me," Aurora said softly. "I don't deserve it."

"I can't not be noble; it's a part of who I am," Harry said.

"Well, for just a second, be someone else. I didn't tell you that to scare you. I told you so that you would know what happens to you if you get into this."

"What do you mean?"

"If I die after the courting ritual completes, you have sixty days to take care of your affairs and then five days of agonizing death. No repeats, no replay, no later date; dead in sixty-five days."

Harry fell silent. For fifteen years, he had lived with death on his shoulders. Now, to know that death would follow him even after Voldemort died hurt.

"Here's your options—One, you can get saddled with a pessimstic bitch of a vampire for the rest of your life. Two, you can let me die. Three, I can wipe your memory and you won't get all noble on me."

Harry narrowed his eyes and she held up her hands in defense.

"My ass is on the line in all three cases. The same thing happens to me if you die."

What she failed to mention was that Harry had to stay dead. It was a near fatal oversight on her part.

"Would this have happened if I hadn't-"

"I've known what to look for since last year. Just because I didn't take too kindly to it doesn't mean anything. Discovering you meant actually knowing your name, your face."

She almost added smell, but he didn't need to know about her visit to his dorms the night before to take a whiff of his bed before she went to sleep.

"Look; you're not dying because of me," Harry said.

Aurora moved to her wand.

"You're not obliterating me, either," he growled.

She looked defeated almost. "Snape told me I had to tell you. I really didn't want to. He made me swear."

"I'm glad you did."

"So I can feel awful about this?"

"You said neither party has a choice, right?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't that mean we'll end up in love one way or another?"

"I don't want that. I used to dream of falling head over heels the old fashioned way. Mom called it silly."

"I don't think it is. And, for vampires, this is the old fashioned way."

Harry was leaning toward her, looking innocent and irresistable. He had a smile on his face that Aurora wanted to wipe off. Her preferance would have been sandpaper, but, of course, she had none on her. She had to work with the tools she had.

She pressed her lips against his, forcing him down on his back.

_To everyone still reading; I hope you enjoyed it. To those of you not reading; bon voyage._

_Blessed be,_

_Night_


	4. The Dangers of Dating a Gryffindor

_**Ok, so I've officially been slacking and I know it. There have been a lot of things going down and I've been trying oh-so very hard not to kill anyone **____**. Anyway, sorry for the delay. I've been working on this for the last few nights and added a chapter to my buffer zone, so I feel it is now officially safe to update. Please fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride.**_

Chapter Three- The Dangers of Dating a Gryffindor

"_Levicorpus!_"

If Aurora hadn't been upside down, she probably wouldn't have noticed Hermione's presence. As it stood, her wand was feet away from her and Harry was having absolutely no luck explaining why Aurora had been on top of him. And, in her irritated state, she had overlooked the fact that she had just jumped feet first into the courting process. The next step was the gift giving, to take place a week from first sensual contact. Narrowing her eyes at the ground, she calculated that she had enough time to order a bottle of wine and put a lunch together. _Some grilled chicken, a light salad, ice cream for desert; test the waters... wait... why am I upside down?_

"What the fuck?" she said, coming back to earth in time to realize that Harry was still having no luck whatsoever getting her down. "That's cold; my dad invented that spell."

"We know," Ron shot to her over Hermione's shoulder.

Closing her eyes, Aurora braced herself for the fall. _Liberacorpus_ she thought to herself. Head first, she plonked on the ground. She grabbed her wand, rolled, and took the defensive against Hermione.

"How about we talk this out; Brightest Witch of Sixth Year to First Vampire Seeker in Three Thousand Years, hmm?" she said. She made no move to lower her wand, although she had not even thought a curse so far. She knew; the second she thought it, it woud come out of her wand. She wasn't so good at wandless, wordless magic, but wordless magic had always been a strong suit of hers. Hermione glared at her, not even bothering to lower her own wand. "On three, we all put the wands down and step back quietly. No one has to get hurt today."

Hermione, grudgingly, nodded.

"One," she said, and four wands dropped three inches. "Two," brought them a little closer to the ground. "Three," and everyone dropped their wands and took one large step back.

Harry edged closer to Aurora, fear in his heart. He, strangely, didn't want to lose her.

"What, pray tell, were you doing on top of our best friend?" Ron asked darkly.

"Well, I believe the term you use is snogging, although we use 'making out' where I come from," she said. Her sarcasm was back full force now that she wasn't in danger of murdering anyone.

"Why on Earth were you snogging him?" Ron asked.

"Harry, does this have anything to do with what you and Luna discussed a couple weeks ago?" Hermione interjected. She seemed to be putting the pieces together in her head.

"About vampire mating; yeah," Harry said, blushing and looking down.

Aurora sighed sharply and summoned every ounce of courage she possessed.

"Goddess help us if Dad comes down here," she whispered before she summoned the crown of knots.

Ron and Hermione jumped back a foot and a half at the appearance of the venom crown. It faded quickly, pushed back by the already skilled bearer.

"Don't. Tell. Anyone," she said, punctuating the unspoken threat clearly.

"Never," Ron swore, backing away.

Aurora turned her right arm over, looking at the newest tattoo there. It was a black rose, missing a single petal. It bore nine petals in full bloom. _Nine petals, nine steps. Step one; sensual touch. Step two; giving of the gifts. Step three; exchanging of the histories. Step four; exchange of the truthful vows of love. Step five; fornication (fun part!). Step six; the relaxation. Step seven; exchange of blood. Step eight; exhchange of marriage vows. Step nine; pregnancy. "The first eight must be completed within three hundred and sixty-five days of the discovery of the mate. The last must be completed within seven hundred and thirty days of the eighth step. Furthermore, all steps must be 'plucked' from the rose brand to be completed. Nothing may be ommitted, skipped, or come back to. They must be done in order, first to last._

"Shit," she whispered.

"What? What?" Harry said, grabbing her arm.

"Ok, there should be nine petals on this rose. For the last week and a half, there have been nine petals on this rose. I didn't think; I'm so stupid!"

She resisted the urge to run into the forest and hunt up a stag. Instead, she threw a punch to the nearest tree and snapped the ten foot trunk in half.

"The sensual touch," Hermione whispered.

"Yup. I have a week to complete the giving of gifts."

"Ok, what do I get you?" Harry asked.

"You don't get me anything. I have to do the leg work on this one."

"How many official steps are there?" Hermione asked, brow furrowed.

"Nine. Sensual touch, giving of gifts, exchange of histories, exchange of love vows, sex, massage, blood vows, marriage, pregnancy. Three hundred and sixty-five days to complete the first eight, effectively bonding vampire and mate. Seven hundred and thirty to complete the last step, effectively continuing the blood line in case of death. A week between the first and second, two between the second and third, three between third and fourth, four between four and five, an hour between five and six, three weeks between six and seven, two whole months between seven and eight, and two years between eight and nine," Aurora whispered. "And I was stupid enough... Gods, Harry, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Harry said softly.

"What are the rules about ommitting facts?" Hermione asked.

"You can't. Every step must be completed in order. Everything has to be exchanged exactly the way its perscribed or the petals don't disappear."

"Why is there so much time between three, four, and five?" Ron asked. "Wouldn't those happen in rapid succession?"

"Most vampires don't find their mates until much, much later in life. As a result, they have a lot of baggage to unload on a younger mate. Usually, it's not pleasant. The time gap is a fail safe in case the mate balks. Lucky me; I don't have that issue to deal with."

"What happens if the steps aren't completed right or in the time limit?" Harry asked softly.

"Remember that gruesome death I was talking about earlier?"

"Yeah," he gulped.

"That."

"YOU WHAT?"

Aurora pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. She was fighting a strong headache and about to get in the second fight with her father since she came back. Usually, she didn't have this kind of trouble with him; usually fight one happened right before Christmas, when she refused to go to the Ice Palace (part of the reason was the fact that she had no desire to deal with her mother whoring herself out in hopes of producing a prince) and fight two didn't occur until Easter. With the rate things were going, a fight a month looked inevitable.

"I didn't exactly plan it that way, alright?" Aurora growled. "He had this... this stupid smirk on his face and all I wanted to do was get rid of it... and I didn't have any sand paper so... I used what was available."

"Your lips?"

"It worked!"

"What happened after that?"

"Well... Hermione caught us... and... we had a discussion about the fact that I'm Harry's mate. I figured out what I'm doing for the giving of gifts, if that's any consolation. All I've got to do is figure out what his favorite wine is and I'm set."

"So far as I know, Potter has never had a drop of wine in his life," Snape said absentmindedly. "What did Hermione do to get you seperated from him? You're impossible to thwart when you're focussed."

"She may have levied my corpus," Aurora said, looking away.

"WHAT?"

"Hold on a second; she had good reason. From where she was standing, I could have been draining him dry."

"How did she know you were a vampire, hmm?"

"Well... glamour doesn't completely hide the crown from the mate. They can see it in the shadows... and... well... Harry saw me... in the shadows... and he took it to his research crew which included Luna Lovegood and... well... you know how that goes," she said with a nervous giggle. "Funny old world, isn't it?"

"Stop quoting Curse of the Black Pearl," Snape growled darkly. "Explain to me why a student casting _levicorpus_ at my daughter should not be punished?"

"Because she was protecting Harry!" Aurora shouted. "In the same situation, you would have done the same thing! No one knows that better than I do."

"What do you mean?"

"You promised the _only woman you've ever loved_ that you would protect her son! Her son, my mate!"

Outside the potion's room, Harry met Hermione's gaze through tears.

"Regardless of what you think-"

"I don't need to think to see that you still love her. I don't need to think to see that you would sacrifice everything to protect him. You already have! You teach classes here all day long. At night, you're constantly doing research for Dumbledore or Voldemort or even sometimes both! You don't write to anyone, you don't have any friends outside of work and the Death Eaters. To find out that I was his mate must have been a blessing, right?"

Snape opened his mouth to retort, but she didn't give him a chance.

"You got what you wanted, though! You should be happy! I'm well on my way into his pants, in case you were wanting to talk about my sex life again!"

"Why should I be happy?" Snape said, eyes closed. "Why should I be happy when the little eleven year old potions master who used to look up at me and say 'Daddy, why'd you add this when this would be a better substitute?' or 'Daddy, where are you going? You haven't read me a story yet!' is gone. Dead, to put it in your own words."

"You should be happy because at least you have a daughter who loves you," Aurora whispered. "At least you have a daughter willing to keep your promises for you, no matter what cost. I'll protect him within an inch of my life if that's what it takes. I'll keep him out of Dumbledore's line of fire and Voldemort's. I'll even keep him away from Mom, if it floats your boat."

"I never asked you to do that."

"You don't have to. Not out loud. Regardless of what you think, I knew three weeks ago what you wanted. And today I realized I might enjoy it. He's sweet and kind and funny; everything you described his mother as. It wasn't a stupid smirk; it was a goofy grin meant to make me smile," Aurora whispered. "He's so... so stupidly noble... he was willing to give up his own chance at freedom for me, even when I told him not to be noble."

"That doesn't change the fact that my eleven year old potion's master is gone," Snape said morosely.

"Yeah, but not dead. I was wrong about that. She's just speaking in a different voice now. She's the one telling me to tackle you to the ground and not let you up every time you're summoned. She's the one who told me to make you give Baldy my name. Regardless of how you feel about it, it doesn't change anything. The fact of the matter is I was giving up freedoms for you long before you realized it," Aurora said. "You don't seem to understand that, at the Ice Palace, I could be halfway to Egypt and no one would notice nor care so long as I had Spike and/or Angel with me. I can do whatever I want up there, including getting into more trouble than I'm worth. And, for seven years, I've spent Christmas here, rule bound and under your watchful, albeit grudging gaze. Why? Because I didn't want you to spend Christmas alone. I don't want the only people you see to be Death Eaters and Order members and people you _hate_. Holidays aren't for hate; they're for love and family. Regardless of what Mom _thinks_ she knows, I _know_ that I'm the only family you have left. I _know_ I'm probably the only one left alive on this planet who really, truly loves you, no matter how irritating you can be some times. I've known that for a while. So... first year... I decided that I wasn't going anywhere. Ice Palace be damned, my... my Daddy was not going to spend his Christmasses and Easters alone. And he still won't."

Aurora had turned away from him, hiding her tears.

"Next year, you'll have a mate. You'll have children to contend with," Severus said. "You won't want to have time for me."

"That's never going to happen. I'll spend every holiday possible with you until one of us is dead, preferably you first," Aurora said with a smile. "Just because I have eternal life doesn't mean I'm going to share it."

"What about P... Harry?" Snape asked softly, fearing an explosion. "You can't continue through the mating process without loving him."

"Part of me already does, Daddy," she said softly, the old name rolling easily off her tongue now that she had said it once. "There's a part of me that has always known this was coming and it made room for him."

"I take it this means I'm stuck with you for Christmas again?"

"No matter where I go," Aurora declared proudly.

"Then I think you might want to pry your mate away from my keyhole."

Aurora flushed brilliant crimson and raced to the door, whipping it open just as Hermione and Harry jumped back. Her flush grew brighter for a moment before she settled on a teary gaze.

"You... you were..."

"I didn't know how well he would take it," Harry said, but his gaze was filled with tears as well.

"You... you didn't know, did you... that my dad loved your mom..." she whispered. "That... he was always protecting you... despite the fact that you looked so like your dad... you have... _her_ eyes."

Aurora had a long standing, unspoken agreement with herself and her dad that Lily's name would not be mentioned in her presence. It had been a bone of contention in her small and dysfunctional family for years.

"Her? Is that what you call my mother?" Harry asked, looking to Snape.

"No. That's what I call her, Harry," Aurora said coolly. "Believe it or not, I could have had a happy childhood if it weren't for your mother. I could have had a father for the first eleven years of my life."

Harry blanched.

"I'd like to say that I'll never forgive her for it," Aurora continued. "But... she gave me you. And how can't I forgive her when she gave me a gift too great to refuse."

"I'm-"

"Damnit! Stop being so noble," Aurora growled, although it was playful. "It's cute."

"Cute? I'm not cute," Harry said with narrowed eyes.

"Endearing, then. Whatever floats your boat," she replied, putting an arm around his shoudlers and steering him away. She cast a wink over her shoulder and the last thing Snape heard before she was out of earshot was "What do you say we work over step one some more? Just to say we have it down pat."

The next morning, Sunday, found Aurora in the Owlery at a very early hour. Dawn had barely awoken and the sky was only paleing when she trudged up to the grandiose tower. Her owl, Rubik (even though she wasn't remotely cube shaped), had taken roost on the top floor, and Aurora hiked all the way up there to find the blue (charmed, of course, by the lovely Fred Weasley) bird in the bird equivalent of the position she'd been in the night before. She cleared her throat loudly, and whatever bird had been frisking hers flew off, leaving Rubik very angry. Despite this anger, she dutifully allowed Aurora to tie three letters to her leg (she had to get her name somehow; intelligence and the ability to deliever multiple letters was one way). The bird then swooped out of the tower, leaving Aurora to hike all the way back down. On the second tier, she found Harry, Ron and Hermione. Her plan to sneak down and out of the tower did not work nearly as well as hoped; she was spotted as she ducked down toward the exit.

"Aurora!" Harry called, and she froze in the act of leaving, her hair turning from bright purple to vibrant pink in a milisecond.

"Harry," she said softly, her eyes slightly downcast. Her memory overwhelmed her for a moment, and all she could see beneath her was Harry's wreathing form, brought damned close to climax through his jeans by her hands. She shook the image off and retreated the three steps she had descended.

"In a hurry?" Ron asked.

"Why do you ask?" Aurora said, instantly suspicious. Ron had been glaring at her the entire time she sat in the Gryffindor tower the night before, although it could have had something to do with her talking Harry through the chess match until he won. She didn't necessarily give him the answers, but she made him think, which awoke the strategist within him. When Ron asked for a rematch after losing the game, she made the suggestion that it be made more interesting; they could play strip chess (Hermione's head popped out from over top of her book at the suggestion). Ron had left, blushing, when Aurora took the table. Harry and she had gotten through about fifteen minutes (which amounted to both shoes, socks, Aurora's shirt and Harry's top shirt, leaving them barefoot and nearly half naked) before Aurora had guided them to an abandoned couch in a remote corner of the Common Room to practice step one. She'd gotten him harder than he'd ever been before, and then threw him over the peak of orgasm twice.

"Just wondering if you'd like to hang out with us today?" Hermione said. Harry looked as dumbstruck as Aurora felt, but she had her wand in her trusty wrist holster and nothing better to do than to see what her mate's two best friends wanted.

"Sure, why not? I was headed down to breakfast anyway."


	5. Common Room Fiasco

_**Short chapter. Lots of angst in this one, though. And, yes, I was working on Turkey Day. Delicious dinner inspired another buffer chapter, so I figured I'd update again. I'll hold Ch. 5 hostage if I don't get some feedback from this (I got ahold of Harry's wand... muah hahahahaha)**_

_**We must now ask that you resume your seats and fasten your seat belts as we will be encountering some turbulence this chapter.**_

Chapter Four- Common Room Fiasco

Aurora blushed as she entered the Gryffindor common room, thinking of the night before when she and Harry... _stop that or you will not make it through this!_ She almost recoiled at the message, sent to her from none other than Draco Malfoy, who had apparently gotten her message first. Thoughts successfully redirected, Draco quieted.

"Up for a game of chess?" Ron asked.

"Only if you're ready for an arse-kicking," she said with a smile.

"We'll see. I was taking it easy on Harry."

"So was I."

The sentence caused Harry to choke on the bottle of water he'd been drinking from, and Aurora repressed a smile, as if she hadn't implied anything. She sat down to play.

While the chess game was going on, Aurora struck up a conversation with Draco.

_**Alright, pretty boy, help me.**_

_ I don't see why I should. You've called me a ponce for the last six years and you've been so awful to me as to kick me from my spot._

_**Because you're a horrible seeker and I happen to be a good seeker and you booted me first.**_

_ I don't see how this benefits me._

_**Remember that whole "getting you out of dodge" thing?**_

_ Yeah._

_**Consider it done.**_

"Getting" Draco Malfoy "out of dodge" consisted of three steps; number one, getting him out of his house by Christmas. Number two, getting him to the Ice Palace by Easter. Number three, (the only difficult step) getting Victoria Snape to turn him. She had the distinct impression that it might require the help of her new-found friends, which would be interesting since they hated Draco. But Draco had been under pain of death his whole life if he didn't act a certain way. The sneer was only an act, the Ice Prince a title he neither wanted nor deserved. He'd never been cold, and the only reason he was being selfish with her was because she deserved it.

_Well then. The only problem I see so far will be the wine. Harry's never had a drink of wine in his life._

_**Since when do you call him Harry?**_

_ He hasn't told you yet?_

"Check mate," Aurora said aloud, but she was no longer looking at the board. Her eyes, instead, turned to Harry. "I think we need to have a chat."

Harry stood, and Ron and Hermione almost stood as well.

"Alone," Aurora amended.

Silently, they walked out of the common room. Aurora led him down the hall to a large portrait of a very vampiric looking Billie Joe Armstrong. He had a crown on his head and long flowing robes to his ankles. She looked up at him with a smile. "William Joseph Armstrong, twentieth king of the vampires. He and his wife stepped down in the mid-eighties so he could pursue a career as a musician. He goes by Billie Joe Armstrong now."

"I thought he looked familiar."

Aurora smiled, but it looked strained. She looked... confused almost. Before he could say anything, Aurora looked up at BJA again.

"Bush Sucks Balls," she said quietly.

Billie Joe snickered. "That one's my favorite, but its changing time again. Next week, it'll be Aurora Borealis."

"Thanks," she muttered before she pulled Harry inside. They headed down a winding staircase that went down all seven floors before she darted out. Billie Joe wasn't in his other portrait; Tre Cool, however, was. Tre snickered, made a lude comment about her ass, and then let them out without much fuss. "You'd think they'd pick their own lyrics for passwords, but they never do. The most confusing one was when they used my cousin's nickname for it."

"Who's your cousin?" Harry asked as he got the distinct impression of where they were headed.

"Seeker for Bleeding Hearts," she said absentmindedly.

Harry stopped, pulling her to a dead halt with him. "Seeker for the _vampire Quidditch team Bleeding Hearts?_"

"What other team in the league has such a corny name?" Aurora asked, still looking distracted.

Harry groaned. "I'm going to get my ass kicked, aren't I?"

There was something Aurora hadn't thought about. Her Quidditch team, consisting of Blaise Zabini as Keeper, a Pansy-Greengrass-Malfoy triad of Chasers (Draco had talent as a chaser, she thought), Bulstrode and Higgs as Beaters, and herself as Seeker, had been training non-stop in lieu of the first game, six days from that Sunday. So far, so good. The playbook worked well, and she and Pansy had worked on making mental links between all the players (which was how Malfoy was in her head). They could all communicate soundlessly, which was not mentioned in the rulebook either way. However, it was also the day that Aurora had planned on the giving of gifts. Suddenly, worry clouded her thoughts. It must have passed over her face, as well.

"Hey, I'm not going to leave you to die over a stupid Quidditch game," Harry said, pressing a hand to her cheek. She resisted the urge to lean into the touch.

"I know. It might put a damper on my later plans, though."

"Don't throw the game. I want to see how well you play," Harry said softly.

After Malfoy's second loss to Gryffindor, Flint had called Aurora back to plate, forcing her to play the remainder of his last season. She'd not gotten to play him in her sixth year (Malfoy had been pushed to back-up to appease him and had gone so far as to break her arm that game under his father's orders; they had lost). After that disaster, Aurora had threatened to take Draco's head off with an axe. He had then told her, under influence of "stolen" Veriteserum, that his _father_ insisted he be on the house team. He'd gone so far as to spill his guts about all his (then) fifteen years of life and his father's influence. It had been then that he had begged her to help him get out of servitude.

Aurora nodded before heading to the Slytherin common room. She stopped in her tracks, however, as Pansy screamed in her head. _**Good to know you got the note.**_

___This is going to __**fuck us up!**_

_** No it's not. I have his permission to wallop him into the dirt. It'll be close, though. I spied on their practice yesterday. They're good.**_

_ We'll have to be better. Are you bringing him down to meet and greet our friends yet?_

_**One thing at a time. Malfoy, him, and I have something to discuss first. Then, when the silencing charm drops, feel free to burst in. Just... leave the wands outside, ok?**_

_ Fine._

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, looking at her, concern painted on his features.

"Spontaneous headache," she answered. _I resent that. __**I don't care.**_

Harry nodded, unconvinced. Aurora grabbed his hand and started off toward the common room again.

"Elaborate. Now!" Aurora growled as soon as they entered her room and she cast a silencing charm. Her eyes were narrowed at Draco, and she looked... deadly, almost.

"Elaborate about what?" Harry asked.

"You. Him. Elaborate. Now!" she growled again, and Harry realized she'd seen red. She, normally so articulate, was saying less words than she had last night when he had his hand... places that he normally didn't put his hand with a girl he'd never been on a single date with.

"Aurora," Harry said firmly. "Don't-"

"I'm not... breaking up a good thing to save my own ass," she growled. "What went on?"

"Draco was curious. I was available. One night. That's it," Harry said softly. "We've been friends since."

She didn't look convinced.

"Are you really, seriously looking for a way to get rid of me?" Harry asked, his insecure mind jumping ahead of itself. "Am I that-"

She silenced him with a light kiss, flash cooling in an instant.

"Never. I just... I don't want... I don't want anyone hurt because of me, especially not Draco."

"I thought you would have gotten to the exchanging of histories. I'm sorry," Draco said softy.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Drake," she said softly, dropping the silencing charm.

She hadn't realized that her Quidditch team was ready to pounce. With a bang, the door flew open and five sweaty, muddy, just-got-done-practicing Quidditch players raced in and tackled her. Their entrance was followed by the apperance of her not-so-favorite ex-Slytherin; Marcus Flint.

"Good Goddess, get off me!" Aurora shouted, fighting to the top of the pile. She tumble rolled out and stood on the opposite end of the room, braced for more. "You were supposed to tackle Harry, not me!"

"But you're our Captain. You come first," Pansy said, before she and the others proceeded to tackle Harry, leaving Aurora and Flint to catch sight of each other.

"Marcus," she said cautiously. It had not ended well when she broke it off with Flint. It had gone especially bad when Flint found out that she left him for Fred. The animosity between the two was enough to make her glad that they only saw each other at Diagon Alley occasionally. She had tried to keep on good terms with him (he had been her first and her best friend for a long time before that, not that four years was too long in the grand scheme of things). It had been alright... when they were communicating through letters. However, she had not told Marcus that Harry was her mate.

"Aurora," he said, caution in his voice as well. "I didn't come here to ask you if you wanted to have another go, if that's what you're thinking."

"Good."

"So... Potter, huh?"

"I never would have thought it either."

"And how far?"

"Step one of nine."

"When are you jumping to step two?"

"This Saturday."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah. Find me a decent sized picnic basket," she said with a smile.

The tension seemed to dissipate instantly, and Aurora went to pry her friends off her mate.

"Are you still alive in there?"

That evening found her once again with Hermione and Ron, only this time Harry was no where in sight. He had left mysteriously, and Aurora found herself in a very awkward position.

"Hermione told me about your conversation with Snape yesterday," Ron said finally.

She resisted the urge to say "_Professor_ Snape" and settled for a noncommittal grunt. Her gaze didn't move from the fire.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked. "Really, why are you going through with this?"

Aurora choked down her smart-ass comment and decided on the truth.

"When I started this, my intention was clear cut; save my skin, keep my dad's promise—everything's smooth as silk. I kept thinking in terms of mentality; I could trick myself into loving him, I could trick myself into caring. And... then... it wasn't so much about saving myself as it was protecting Dad from himself. It became... saving Harry... loving Harry... being with Harry. I kept telling myself that I was only doing this to keep Dad's promise, but it's since stopped working. I'm doing this because I want to."

"You keep talking about a promise. What promise?" Hermione asked.

"My... my dad was the one who overheard part of Trelawny's prophecy concerning the downfall of Voldemort back when he was a loyal Death Eater. I was a year old and already forgotten, so this is speculation from here on out. He wouldn't tell me before it came back. He wouldn't tell me after. He probably won't tell me even when old Baldy kicks the bucket. My guess is Voldemort picked Harry's mom and dad because Dad knew 'em in school. Maybe even he sensed that Dad still loved Lily. Who knows? All I know is it turned Baldy Valdy's sights on Lily E-Potter and Dad didn't like that. He begged Voldemort to let Lily live, but it fell on deaf ears. Valdy didn't care so long as the threat was eliminated. So... Dad went to Dumbledore. He spilled his guts."

The same magic she had demonstrated in DADA she used again in the empty common room. They stood on a hill-top, wind whipping around them. They watched as Dumbledore apparated to the hill-top and wrenched Snape's wand from his hand.

_"Don't kill me!" he said, cowering on the ground._

_ "That was not my intention," Dumbledore replied._

_ He looked down, illuminating the fearful and crying Snape with light from his own wand._

_ "Well, Severus? What message does Lord Voldemort have for me?"_

_ "No—no message—I'm here on my own account!" Snape cried, looking more and more crazy by the second. "I—I come with a warning—no, a request—please—"_

_ "What request could a Death Eater make of me?"_

_ "The—the prophecy... the prediction... Trelawny..."_

_ "Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, although there was no mistaking the tint of scorn in his voice. "How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?"_

_ "Everything—everything I heard!" Snape said darkly. "That is why—it is for that reason—he thinks it means Lily Evans!"_

_ "The prophecy did not refer to a woman," corrected Dumbledore. "It spoke of a boy born at the end of July—"_

_ "You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down—kill them all—"_

_ "If she means so much to you, surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?"_

_ "I have—I have asked him—"_

_ "You disgust me," said the elder wizard, full of contempt. "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?"_

_ "Hide them all, then," he croaked. "Keep her—them—safe. Please."_

_ "And what will you give me in return, Severus?"_

_ "In—in return?" Snape gaped at the older man. "Anything."_

The scene faded, and Aurora had tears in her eyes. "He promised... He promised the bastard anything to keep her... to keep Lily safe. He defected quietly, at great risk to himself. He promised to serve a man who hated him because he made a mistake he could not take back."

"He went to serve-"

"Because he would have done _anything_ to get away from his parents," Aurora said, and she was crying now. Crying not for herself (not yet, anyway) but for her father. "The man who abused him, the woman who let him. He would have done anything to get away from that legacy. He joined Voldemort because he believed all Muggles the same as his father. He wanted nothing more than revenge. When he realized what Voldemort wanted, it was too late."

"That doesn't explain the promise, though," Hermione said, cutting Ron off before he could make another pass at venting.

"When she... when Lily and James died," she said, choking on the names of those who had caused her father so much pain, "Dad swore to keep Harry safe to preserve Lily's memory and because _he knew it was what she would have wanted_. He didn't do it because he thought he could be a better father, he didn't do it because he knew anything about me... he didn't even know I existed until my name popped up on the register. My mom hid me away for ten years. He did it for... for his... for Lily fucking Evans."

The anguish on her face was too much for either Hermione or Ron to look at.

"And I should hate her for that," Aurora said softly. "I should hate her for the rest of my life because _she_ fucked up my childhood. But... I... I can't. I can't bring myself to hate someone who gave my dad memories that make him smile. I have to labor over a hot cauldron for hours to get the barest whisper of a grin from him, but I mention Lily Evans and every mask he has goes away. That... and she gave me Harry."

"Back to the original question, though," Ron said, trying to get the tears to receed and the anguish to fade.

"I'm doing this because I think the barest part of me might, in some way, love him."

There was a crashing sound, and Aurora caught the vaugest curse come spilling from Harry's golden lips.


	6. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

**Bloody hell! I've left you with... well... with nothing of worth while recognition. I apologize. Between school and work (plus this huge thing called a crush I've got on the boss man) I've been a busy little under paid, under appreciated, overworked intern... not. Under appreciated... more like over appreciated and occasionally over estimated. Overworked? Hah! not even close.**

**I'm rambling, aren't I?**

***smack***

Chapter Five- Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Followed by a Picnic Lunch

Aurora took a deep breath and straightened her green and silver robes, a whisper of a smile on her face. She looked up at the head table and saw her dad stand. She knew; it was time for the pre-game hug and best wishes that she'd gotten before Draco had booted her so rudely from the team. She shouldered her Firebolt Deluxe and headed out into the Entrance Hall. Before she could do anything, Snape had her crushed to his chest.

"Can't... breathe..." she said, miming being out of breath. She smiled as he let go of her to look at her.

"This is your first game in a while. You're sure you're up for this?" Snape asked her.

"I'll be fine," she replied with a smile. "I played plenty of games with Nala over the summer."

No matter how confident she looked or felt, a part of her in the back of her mind cried out in agony. In six days, she and Harry had not spoken a word to each other. He didn't even look at her in DADA anymore. Her admission of wishing she could hate his mother destroyed him, but it was the truth. He had to hear it, one way or another. That supposed hatred had been an intrical part of her life for sixteen years, even if she hadn't known what to call it for fifteen of them. As Snape headed back into the Great Hall and her team slipped out to follow her (now that the father-daughter moment was over), she caught sight of Harry, giving his team a pre-game pep talk. She snorted in her head; her Slytherins were so good and so pumped that they didn't even need a pep talk.

"Let's roll. I want to get down and see how awful the field is today."

It had rained non-stop for five days, reflecting Aurora's mood. The first night, when she had gone up to get back into the tower, Hermione and Ron had headed her off, saying that Harry hadn't come back after she tried to chase him down. They didn't blame her outwardly, even though she herself did. She was unsure if they blamed her in their heads and were just too scared to say anything. They were only mortal, after all. Once they had explained the situation, Aurora had helped them hunt up the Room of Requirement, only to find it waiting for them. Harry, however, hadn't let her in. She'd kept her chin up as she passed everyone else, but the second she was back in the safety of her room she began sobbing. Pansy and Daphne Greengrass had come to the rescue, helping to calm her enough that she could think out a clear plan of action. The next day, she had tried to corner him outside of the Defense classroom. Her own father had docked fifteen points from her and told her to sit in his office. She'd graded papers that day. Wednesday, she'd tried again outside Charms. Flitwick hadn't docked her points, but he had scolded her and sent her on her way to Transfiguration, where she was assisting McGonagall in teaching the seventh years some of the more difficult transformations; namely the animagi transformation. Thursday had been spent hunting Harry in the corridors. She always got stopped by a teacher when she was close; it felt as though they were conspiring against her. Friday had been when she got closest; she'd caught his arm as he headed into Potions, but Slughorn had docked fifty points and gave her a detention, to be served the following Monday. Harry looked as if he hadn't slept the whole week and Aurora had sat outside the potion's room for fifteen minutes crying at the anguish in his eyes. Snape had come across her while she was wishing she'd never been born, shortly before she'd come up with the idea of jumping off the Astronomy tower. She'd been confined to his dungeon that night, and he wouldn't let her out of his sight.

Looking at the pitch, Aurora recognized that it wasn't as bad as it could be. It was no longer raining, and the blue sky was winking out from behind white clouds. _Perfect day to Juliet myself_ she thought grimly. If Harry didn't go with her for the giving of gifts, it was game over. That, and she'd spent a hundred galleons for nothing (so she told herself).

* * *

The game was over. She hadn't thrown it, and Slytherin had won by ten points in overtime. Pansy Parkinson and Ginny Weasley were both dealing with broken bones, her beaters had strained their rotator cuffs from hitting bludgers so hard, and she'd fallen off her broom from a hundred feet up, only to be caught by Harry. He hadn't said a word to her as she looked at the Golden Snitch in her hand, and as soon as they were on the ground he'd headed off to the locker room. Standing outside it with a picnic basket and a small gift box in one hand, an emerald rose in the other, Aurora again contemplated jumping off the Astronomy tower. She'd seen Ginny on her way up to the Hospital Wing with Hermione, and Ginny didn't seem pissed. She'd congratulated her on the win and Aurora expressed the sentiment that she hoped to see Gryffindor again in the match for the Cup. Without a word, she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed as Harry's voice drifted toward her.

"I can't do this," he said softly.

"You've got to talk to her, mate," Ron said softly. "She's absolutely smitten with you and you know it."

"She... she hates my mum. How can she be-"

"She said she _wishes_ she could hate your mum, Harry," Hermione said. "Weren't you listening? Every time she's confronted about it, she says she _wishes_ she could hate your mum."

"She's only doing this for Snape."

"I don't think so, mate," Ron said. He had caught sight of her, blue jeans and green long-sleeve shirt, standing at the top of the stairs out of the locker rooms. Aurora opened her eyes and didn't even bother mustering a smile, as she had on the broom. Instead, she ducked her eyes and stood up straight, giving the appearance of confidence. The Golden Trio wasn't fooled by any stretch of the imagination. Harry, flanked by Ron and Hermione, approached cautiously. Without a word, she held out the rose.

"Where..."

"Did I get it?" Aurora said with a half-assed smile. "Your mother planted a garden of them just inside the Forest. Dad told me about it."

"And... you went in there to get this because..."

"It reminds me of your eyes... and I was hoping it would remind you of your mother," she said softly. "Regardless of my opinion (biased as it is) she was an extraordinarily brave woman. She faced the most dangerous wizard of all time with no thought to herself. No matter how badly my childhood sucked because of her, I have to respect her for that."

Harry nodded, taking the rose.

"And, as I've been telling myself since I got back, she _did_ give me you," Aurora said softly. There was a whisper of a smile on her lips as she looked at Harry. "C'mon; I have something I want to show you."

Aurora set off across the grounds, the expression on her face the same one she wore when she was working on a particularly difficult potion. Harry left his friends behind and followed Aurora, not quite healed but getting better as he went along. She led him past Hagrid's hut, stopping only then to wave at the man who was tending his pumpkins for the upcoming Halloween. Hagrid waved back knowingly and smiled, although Harry had no idea why. Before he could even consider what was happening, she grabbed the hand that didn't have the rose and rushed into the Forest. She led him along a well worn path through the trees for about a mile before coming upon a clearing filled with unicorns.

"Wait here," she said softly, as she dropped everything on the ground just outside the clearing. She moved into the field slowly, showing her hands. The leader, a large stallion with a very, very large horn, approached her cautiously, gave her a sniff, and whinnied. He then retreated back to the rest and there seemed to be a communication going on with them. Finally, one of them must have somehow signalled to Aurora that it was alright, since she reached back and pulled him in.

What he had percieved as a clearing was really a grotto. At the far end, some hundred yards away, stood a large pool with a waterfall cascading down into it. The water was clear and cool looking. The field that Aurora led him across was as green as the rose he held in his hands, and the dew there made the blades of grass sparkle like gemstones. She silently led him to the edge of the pool, where the unicorns were gathered. She spread a blanket and set the picnic basket on it before taking her shoes off.

She sat down and looked up at him, her face betraying nothing about her emotions, which were in turmoil. If he sat, she knew he was still interested; still _down with it_. If not, he was going back the way she came and she had sixty days to say good-bye before experiencing the most excruitiating pain of her young life. Not the death, mind you. It would be the pain of rejection that would tinge her thoughts for the last sixty-five days of her seventeen years of life. No such pain radiated from her as he sat down warily after removing his shoes. The rose rested in his lap.

"Ok, taking into account the fact that you have _never_ had a drop of wine according to my most valued sources, I entered bright idea mode," she said, although it was not as bouncy and off tangent as she had been on Sunday. She pulled from the picnic basket a bottle of wine, two glasses, plates, and sets of silverware.

"What's in the box?" Harry asked.

Aurora stopped for a moment, pondering the answer to the question. "You tell me. What is step two called?"

"Giving of gifts."

"So what do you think is in the box?" she asked with a smirk.

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "I meant the item."

"It wouldn't be a gift if I told you that. You get your present after lunch; now sit back and relax. I cooked this myself, you know. You're just lucky I had my eye on Dad; otherwise who knows what could have gotten in here," she said. Harry suddenly picked up on what it was about her voice that suddenly struck him.

"Are you... nervous?" he asked incredulously.

"N-Nervous?" Aurora asked. "Should I be?"

"You tell me," Harry said, scooting closer. He took the bottle from her hands and set it down. He then encased her fingers in the palms of his hands. "I understand now why you have every reason to hate my mother. You spent the better part of eleven years without parents. It was just a shock to hear you say it."

A silent tear slid down Aurora's cheek. "I don't hate her."

"I know. That doesn't change the fact that you should."

"Life's too short to hate anybody, even for us. I could be dead tomorrow if I don't do this right, you know."

"And how do you do this right?"

"I have no idea. I'm working on instinct and adrenaline at the moment."

Harry's brow furrowed. "They don't teach you how to do this?"

"Spike gave me pointers."

From the bushes near-by there came a great cry. "Oi! Give him the bloody gift already. I've had to listen to you whine for six days about that damn thing and I wanna see his reaction when he opens it. The bloody ponce'll be on me in a few about skimping my patrol so give him the damn thing!"

"That, love, would be Spike," Aurora said with a grumble. "Shut your bleeding mouth! I was gonna wait till-"

"Don't wait! Now!" Spike said urgently.

Aurora grumbled and handed Harry the gift before she realized she'd been dangerously close to violating the terms of the courting process. It specifically said in ancient texts _exactly one week_. She'd been thirty seconds shy of missing that marker.

"Alright, damnit, what do I have to say this time?"

"'Oh thank you Spike of the smartest and most wisest vampires with the longest-"

"Up-bub-bub! Stop right there; we're not to exchanging of histories and I'm putting that part off as long as possible so STFU!"

"Technically you are on exchanging of histories," Spike said. "I'll settle for Spike the wisest, however."

_More like Spike the Wise-ass_, she thought. Aloud, "Oh, thank you, Spike the Wisest of all vampires."

There was a distinct nod from the bushes and then he was gone.

"You can open that, you know, before he gets on my ass about making you wait," Aurora said with a smile.

"Did you and he..."

"Later, darling, later," Aurora said with a grumble. "You're going first, by the way."

Harry smiled.

Four glasses of wine and a lunch later found Auora and Harry lying on the blanket. Harry had opened his present, and it now rested around his neck; a charmed cartoon vampire that allowed Aurora to contact him through a mental link, know where he was, and feel his emotions. It could be turned off or on by either party. Taking it off would end the charm for the first few months, but long term wear would cause the charm to center on Harry rather than the cartoon pendant. After Aurora explained the charm to Harry, he found himself grateful both for the constant companion and the fact that he could turn it off.

"So what's the plan?" Harry asked, carding his fingers through her silky, emerald green hair.

"I've booked the pitch late for this week, so I've got plenty of free time on my hands," Aurora replied.

"I meant about the exchanging of histories. When do you want to do that?"

"I was thinking we could stretch it out across two weeks, that way I'm not dumping everything on you at once," Aurora whispered.

"It can't be that bad."

"You were shocked just to hear that I wished I could hate your mother, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's only the beginning. For the first ten years of my life, I had no father. My mother tried to raise me to hate wizards and witches, even though she is one herself. 'You're not like them, darling. You're better' she used to say. It wasn't until I was six that she finally told me my father was a wizard, one whom she knew very well. She claimed they were friends. From then on, I was no longer allowed to eat dinner with them. I had to eat in my room. Apparently, she began inviting him over again in hopes to entice him to her bed once more. She wants a son; one who she can brainwash. She doesn't seem to realize that she's fallen out of favor with the Goddess. The purple brand that marks her as royalty is fading."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"It means that she'll soon no longer be Queen. It gets grayer every day now. When it fades, she'll be mortal."

"How does that work?"

"She plans to betray our people and bring us to war on the side of Voldemort," Aurora said softly. "The people have spoken. When the mark fades, I'm to carry out their only order."

"I don't follow."

"The people of the Vampiric Nation United place their trust in the royals because they know nothing of politics. The royals get their power from the Goddess. The people have one right; one power that saves them from any terrible fate. They and they alone have the right to order the execution of the King and Queen. The leader of the Phoenix Guard and his or her second in command carry out the order. The people have ordered the death of my mother. I am the leader of the Phoenix Guard."

Harry looked down at her softly. "Can you actually... will you really..."

"I have to."

"No you don't!" Harry said, standing up and facing the water. "We all have a choice."

"And mine was made for me. I can either hand in my resignation, which means I'm letting you die or I kill my mother, which makes it possible for generations of beings to live in freedom and if that's a choice then it's a damned horrible one!" Aurora said, standing calmly. "I won't give up the world for a woman who acted more like a whore than a mother. It's been some time since I spared any love for that woman and you should not waste tears on her."

She laid her hand on his cheek lightly and wiped away the tears with her thumb.

"You never had a mother, my love," she whispered. "You don't know what you're missing. But my mother was kind and sweet once. The words of Death Eaters have poisoned her mind beyond reproach. She is nothing but a shell filled with malice and hate now."

Harry touched his forehead to hers. "What's it like; having a real mum all the time?"

"Think about how Mrs. Weasley fusses over you. You're as good as her son and that's better than what I've had in a long time," Aurora whispered.

"Oi! I thought you weren't to exchanging of histories yet," called an irritatingly familiar voice.

"We're just getting started," Aurora said softly.

"Stretching it out?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

"Harry, may I present William 'the Bloody' Pratt, otherwise known as Spike and Liam Angelus, otherwise known as Angel," Aurora said, pulling back slightly. "Spike is captain of the Forbidden Forest patrols and my own personal mating handbook as he's done it about ten times now."

"How?"

"Mortals don't have the same effect as magical beings and creatures. If you mate a mortal and they die, that's to be expected. They get reincarnated. Plus, if you don't find your mate, you can always begin the process with someone else," Spike explained.

"Angel is my second in command and the Goddess's idea of a practical joke."

"Huh?"

"She means to say that I'm her sanity for all time, Mr. Potter," Angel said, and he offered his hand. Harry shook it and noticed the calluses and scars there. They were nearly identical to the ones on Aurora's hands. "I do hope you'll forgive the interruption but I need to speak to my CO for a moment."

Aurora groaned. "Don't tell me; diplomats."

"Worse."

The two headed to the edge of the clearing, leaving Spike and Harry alone.

"Normally, I'd give you the 'you-hurt-her-and-we'll-kill-you' speech but I don't think I need to," Spike said softly. "I assume she told you the jist of what's happening."

"She has to kill her mother."

"No, mate. She has to kill the woman who gave birth to her. McGonagall's more her mother than that hag and we all know it," Spike said darkly. "Is that all she told you?"

"Pretty much."

"Then you haven't heard nothing yet. You see, Angel just got a missive from the royal council declaring a seperation of the VNU from the Queen, her new mate, and their small army. They want Aurora to take control for now and annihalate the threat. See'n's how she's not got any classes at the school, we figured she could plan the war from here; keep her on the sidelines so nothing bad happens to her. She'll want to be on the front lines next year, of course, seeing's how you'll be as well."

"What do you mean?"

"She'll get there later."

Aurora flounced back, an angry glint in her eyes. "Damnit," she whispered.

"We don't have much choice in this, Aurora."

"I know."

"What's the first step?"

"Mass the army. I want every soldier they have replaced in the next week, trained in the next three. I'll talk to Dumbledore about arranging a meeting place in the Forest and then I'll talk to the Wolves."

"Perhaps you should... finish this a little quicker?" Angel asked.

"No," Aurora hissed, and Harry fought the urge to jump back. Spike actually did. "I'll not rush this."

Angel held up his hands in surrender and Aurora was suddenly back to herself. "I'll send Demetri and Rainier to mass the army and train the new recruits. The Ice Palace has been shut down; we'll set up there. Who do you want to play decoy?"

"Put Naobi up; she's always wanted to wear the frills. I want a reasonable guard on her too; just because she's good doesn't mean she's that good."

Angel and Spike disappeared into the trees, leaving a small almost invisible contingent of guards just outside the clearing.

"C'mon; we've got to get up to the castle."

"Why?"

"Word has gotten out on who my mate is. They'll be gunning for you to get me out of the way."


	7. Diplomatic SolutionAgressive Negotiation

Chapter Six- Diplomatic Solution (Aggressive Negotiations)

Aurora winced slightly as her father slammed the door. She had glimpsed a white faced Angel and a cowering Spike, meaning that her father was not a happy camper. She stood silently, straightening the gown she had squished herself into. The black cloak around her was drawn tight and she had a slip of paper in her pocket giving her permission to do whatever was necessary to bring the vampire civil war to a quick and relatively safe end. Her wand was in a holster on her wrist, and she had several weapons stashed in various places on her person, most notable the garter holsters for shuriken and daggers that had easy access because of the high split on her dress. That, combined with the plunging neckline and open back of the dress, was likely to make her father even more angry.

_Best not mention it_ said Draco in her head.

"You knew this was coming."

"No I didn't, considering you hid your mother's intentions from me."

"Don't call her that. She stopped being my mother the day she started trying to brainwash me, much as Lucius did to her," Aurora snapped. "And I didn't hide it from you. I assumed you would know because of your position in Voldemort's inner circle."

"He was looking for your name so he could kill you," Snape whispered.

"Of course he was. Now he has it, but he can't do a thing with it. He'll be even worse off now that Council has ordered a split. He has two options; he can take what he has or he can try for the whole pie."

"He never was good at settling for second place."

"Which gives me the oppurtune excuse to turn against you, protecting you from being forced to try and kill me," Aurora said simply. "But I'm not going that route until after Christmas. We'll have to stage a big row, of course; for all the Slytherins to see. I'll probably leave the school as well."

"What about Harry?" Snape asked sharply.

"I'll come back around during the day."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"Since I was rudely interrupted earlier with the notice from the Council."

"And this is how you intend to fight your war? You intend to plan quickly and rashly."

"I've never done anything quickly or rashly in my entire life and you know that damned well," she said. She then turned to the door. "Go! Follow the orders I gave you earlier!"

As soon as their footsteps faded, Aurora collapsed into the chair.

"Now... how are we really going to do this?" she asked.

"I think your plan was an excellent one, actually. Stage a fight."

"And I can always feed you information to take to Voldemort. You've always been excellent at occlumency," Aurora replied.

"I've noticed you've grown quite proficient at it as well," Snape said, although there was a question in his voice.

"She spent the first week trying to break into my mind to see what I had said to you during the school year. I've had to grow in the art during the past few years."

"Since the Dark Lord's return?"

"Since you've begun working for two puppeteers instead of one; yes."

"And how much will you tell Harry?"

"Everything. I have to."

"Including what Dumbledore has asked of me?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, that's on tomorrow's agenda."

"And what's on tonight's?"

"I have the meeting to go to, plus a speech to make to the Nation. After that, I figured I'd come home and curl up with my mate and hear about his childhood."

"How far did you get into yours?"

"Not very."

"You'll have to finish."

"I know."

Aurora drew herself up to her full height (heels included) as Angel and Spike opened the doors for her. They were wearing their most formal uniforms, reserved only for the most important of events. The princess-soon-to-be-queen moved with an undefinable grace and power, something her mother had steadily been losing since she had been poisoned by the Death Eaters. Without a word, Aurora pushed her shoulders back and her spine straight as she found herself an awe-inspiring six feet six inches tall. Most of the council members were a head and a half shorter than her, making her glad she'd picked out the foot-tall stilletto heels. She'd gotten plenty of practice walking in them, so her step did not waver as she took the podium (she'd also cast a charm on them to make them feel undeniably comfortable and give her extraordinary balance).

"I have answered the Council's summons on the matter of the separation of the Queen and her mate from the Vampiric Nation United," Aurora said formally, although she looked anything but. Wearing the blue dress, with a split up to garter level on each side, and a neckline that plunged to her waist, she looked like a knockout if ever there was one. Granted, most vampire queens do.

She could see, in the back of the room, Billie Joe and Adrienne Armstrong standing in formal dress as well. She had known he had returned to the vampiric nation as a member of the North-South American sub-council, but she had not known that all councils would be present for the current hearing.

"Indeed, you have," said Picies, the eldest living (retired) member of the Phoenix Guard. He was nine million years old.

"I ask now what service I can render to the council," Aurora said, dropping to her knee. She'd never seen her mother offer such a respect to the council, but she _had_ seen others offer such respect.

"You drop down to your knee for us?" asked Billie Joe. His voice was much more formal than it had ever been when he was King, and she understood now that it was because he had had no fears as King.

"You represent the will of our people. My respect is given where it is due," Aurora answered. She did not stand.

"Rise, Princess," Picies said softly. "Your service is your duty; there is no doubt of that."

"You have been called here today so that we may confirm the rumor," Billie Joe said, taking center stage as Picies collapsed into a coughing fit. "Is Harry Potter, so-called Saviour of the Wizarding World, your mate?"

"No," Aurora said, and her gaze turned icy. "My mate is not the so-called Saviour of the Wizarding World. My mate is an underage wizard named Harry who has had many duties thrust upon him since his parents died by the hands of an evil man. If others choose to call him Saviour, that is their business, but I know that he is a boy who strives to change the world. The Council should acknowledge this as well."

"Point taken and well said," Billie Joe replied. He didn't look the slightest bit stung. "On to more important matters, like what your plans are for this war."

"My plans are my own and I prefer not to reveal them until such time as they are complete. The Council will have a full briefing on my plan of attack in ten days."

"And your plans regarding your father?"

"He has worked as a double agent for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix since the first war. He will continue to do so until the death of Voldemort. As such, it is only proper that I assist him in whatever ways possible. Voldemort will know some of our more open movements, but we will have other plans to keep him blind to our movements."

"It will be dangerous for your father to openly maintain contact with you. You understand that, right?" Billie Joe replied.

"We will stage a fight after Christmas. Once Voldemort believes that he no longer has any contact with me, he will be safe."

"What do you mean by stage?"

"At the school, I am in Slytherin house. This is not a secret. I gave him permission to give the Dark Lord my name when he was assigned to find out the identity of the Vampiric Princess. While the Dark Lord does not know that he is my father, he will in time. With this ruse in place, I can cement his supposed loyalty to the Dark Lord and remove any temptations for Voldemort to use him in an assassination attempt on me. I will also no longer sleep at the castle, as I have taken all my N.E.W.T.s and no longer need to be a permanent fixture at the school. I will return to watch over Harry and his friends as well as to use the forest to coordinate with other magical creatures in secret."

"When will your father make his allegiances known?"

"Not while the Dark Lord is alive."

"Is there any way he can get information to you about Voldemort's movements?"

"Of course, but I will not ask it of him and neither will you," Aurora growled firmly.

Picies stood. "Your loyalty is touching, but I believe you live by the same code as the rest of the Guard; Nation Duty Team, correct?"

"I do, yes. However, I will not need the services of my father, so there is no need to place him in a position where there is undo danger," Aurora replied.

"We would have knowledge of an impending strike-"

"That Dumbledore would be able to give to me. Or anyone else for that matter. We have a dozen Phoenix Guard spies operating in or around the inner circle. There is no need to use my father."

"He _is_ Voldemort's right hand, however," Picies asked.

"For now, yes. But that could change in a moment. You know this."

"How can we be certain you will not put your father's safety above this nation?" Billie Joe asked.

"Is this why I was called here?" Aurora said darkly. "You brought me here to ask if I would betray my country for my father when I have already agreed to kill the woman who raised me?"

"It is a well known fact that you are closer to Severus than you are to Victoria," Billie Joe stated sharply.

"Does it really matter?" Aurora asked. "The fact of the matter is you brought me away from my battle plans to question my allegiances when I could be working out how to save as many lives as possible! I will deal with my father's allegiances in my own manner. As for his safety; he has none. The Dark Lord could kill him for the fun of it tomorrow. He knows this and I know this. We both accept it and have moved on."

"And if he dies?"

"I will have my revenge in the end."

Aurora stood, staring around the semi circle of council members, daring any of them to question her allegiances again. She knew the code; Nation, Duty, Team in that order. Family was no where on the list. Placing her father in harm's way would only serve to destroy her, and in turn the nation. But she couldn't explain what a profound effect her father's death, caused quickly by her own hand, would do to her without sounding weak. She couldn't afford to sound weak.

"If that is all?" she asked.

"One more thing, and then you may leave," Picies said, but he turned to Billie Joe.

"I understand that you are about to conduct the exchanging of histories between yourself and your mate," Billie Joe said softly. "Is there any way you can leave your battle plans out of it?"

"Why ever would I want to?" Aurora asked sweetly. "His best friend is the greatest strategist Hogwarts has ever known. I intend on consulting with them both."

She turned on her heel and walked swiftly out of the room.

An hour later found her standing at a podium outside the vacated Ice Palace. It stood waiting for her staff to move in, a prospect that she grimaced at. Without a word, she rolled her neck, the signal for the curtains to raise, unveiling her. When Angel had asked her if she had written her speech yet, she had shaken her head. _What's the plan?_ he'd asked. _No plan. I'm winging it._

The curtains rose, and her audience of reporters, commoners, soldiers, and diplomats fell silent. She closed her eyes, holding back every emotion threatening to break through. She'd never spoken before so many people before.

"As I understand it, most of you know of the events of the past two days," Aurora said softly into the microphone. "You understand the implications of my presence here. In less than ten days, the warriors of this great nation shall go to war against their brothers. We will be forced to fight against those who we have shared our whole lives with. We will lose family, friends, loved ones of all kinds. But is it not a just exchange, for we will gain an exit from the dark cloud that has plagued us since my mother's mind was poisoned by the Death Eater scum."

There was a cheer, and Angel gave her a thumbs up from the audience.

"We cannot let it stop there," she said, and the cheering stopped. The council and the Phoenix Guard looked perplexed, save Spike. "You are all very intelligent, so I'll see if you can figure this out. Who poisoned the mind of our Queen?"

"DEATH EATERS!" cried the crowd. The Council suddenly seemed to understand.

"Who controls the Death Eaters?"  
"VOLDEMORT!"

"So, in reality, who poisoned the Queen so he could claim lordship over _our_ lands?"

"VOLDEMORT!"

"So who do we truly fight?"

"VOLDEMORT!"

Billie Joe Armstrong jumped up on stage. "I believe our Q-Princess has riled you enough for one night."

"_I_ believe you just tried to call me Queen, Mr. Armstrong," Aurora replied. "And I _don't_ believe I was done."

"You're trying to rile them into giving you consent to start a war, Aurora," he replied, covering the mike with his hand.

"And you're trying to deny that the war has already started, _William_," she hissed. "If we do nothing, Voldemort will simply overrun us. We must act now if we are to beat him back forever. We cannot idly sit by while others suffer. We must fight back."

He could tell; Aurora smelled blood.

When she finally made her way back to the school, she could sense Harry's agitation through the pendant around his neck. Her eyes were heavily lidded as she changed from her dress into a tank-top and a pair of shorts before heading upstairs to Gryffindor tower. She did not stop to chat with her father or McGonagall as she passed them both off in an alcove talking. She heard her name twice but didn't bother stopping; all she wanted was to be in Harry's arms. Without a word, she opened the link between herself and Harry.

_Come let me in, love._

There was a shuffling noise followed by the sound of already familiar footsteps. The Fat Lady swung outward, revealing Harry in his pajama bottoms. She practically fell into his arms, tears rolling down her cheeks. It had taken four hours of relentless torture for her to break, and now there was nothing left to stem the flow of tears as Harry pulled her haphazardly inside and shut the portrait. He half walked-half carried her up the stairs into his dormitory, where his house mates were asleep. Carefully, he dropped them both onto the bed. He shut the curtains and cast sticking and silencing charms on them. He then wrapped his arms around Aurora in silence. He already knew that she would open up in time. All he had to do was wait.

"I hate this," she whispered finally, rubbing the tears from her eyes angrily. "I hate being so weak."

"Crying doesn't make you weak," Harry replied softly. "It makes you human, just like the rest of us."

"It makes me feel weak, though," she growled.

"Haven't you heard? That which makes us feel weak only makes us stronger in the end," Harry whispered.

"You never did finish telling me about your childhood," Harry said the next morning. They were still entwined in his bed, and the charms were still in place. Aurora had started crying again in the night, as her tears had dried on her cheeks.

"It's not a happy story," Aurora said softly.

"Neither is mine."

"Remember how I told you that she finally told me what my dad was when I was six?" Aurora asked.

Harry nodded.

"She said that he refused to see me because he was in love with another woman. A dead woman," she said softly. "She told me her name. 'Your father is in love with Lily Evans,' she said. I did a little research then and felt blinded by what I saw. She was... she was beautiful and intelligent, kind and sensitive; everything my mother wasn't. Everything... everything I wanted my mother to be. And I hated her for it. I'm not proud of that, but jealousy brings out the worst in us."

Aurora hid her head beneath Harry's chin.

"That was when... when it started. She would... whore herself out to men in hopes of producing a prince. When the tests came back negative, she'd take it out on me. She accused me of turning her barren. Within three months, we barely spoke. I could have gone to Antarctica and back and she never would have noticed," she said softly. "When I was nine, it got worse. I had been able to do little bits of magic since I was four, but when I was nine I could barely control it. I lost what little handle I had one day when my mother smacked me into a wall in front of Spike and Angel. They looked shocked, but I was angry because... she made me feel so weak in front of them. It was a shock when she went flying. I must have bounced her around the room twenty times before I got a handle on it."

Harry stopped carding his hands through her hair to look at her.

"I ran away that day. I was gone for two months. I made it as far south as Surrey before they found me. Something was calling me there... some primal knowledge that that was where my father was. I was a block and a half from Spinner's End when Angel and Spike picked me up. I must have screamed for an hour in the car, hoping some unsuspecting Muggle would stop them so I could escape. It was the first time I'd ever felt any kind of magic similar to my own besides my mother's."

"How did your mother react when your letter came?" Harry asked.

"She didn't. She handed it and a bag with a hundred Galleons in it over; told me to have a good time. Angel took me to Diagon Alley. It was the first time we were ever alone, and he's probably one of the funniest people I've ever met. He was a father when no one else would be. He still is most of the time."

"Is that why he was sizing me up yesterday?"

"He gave you a good review," Aurora giggled.

"We should get this out of the way now, you know," Harry said softly.

"Are you sure? I would have figured you wanted to wait."

"To be perfectly honest, I don't think I can. This feels... right. More right than anything else I've ever felt before," Harry said softly. "And... I want to know."

"You realize that you'll have to tell me your story."

"I know."

Aurora took a deep breath. "She didn't even come to King's Cross to say good-bye. It was Angel, Spike, and Naobi Ross, my nanny and personal body guard wherever I went besides Hogwarts. I got on the train without a second thought, even though I was all alone."

"You didn't have any friends?" Harry asked.

"I lived in the Ice Palace; northern Russia. There was no one around. We had to use the Floo network just to get to the station, let alone talk to anyone."

"Sounds lonely."

"S'not so bad. Although, I think I'm going to turn the Ice Palace into a council building and have a 'royal' flat in London instead, just so I don't have to freeze."

"Why's the palace in Russia?"

"Russia was the seat of our power in the old days. It wasn't until we conquered the European families in the eleven hundreds that we gained the rest of the world."

"Did you make any friends on the train?"

"Amazingly enough, yes. I met Marcus Flint, Oliver Wood, and the Weasley Twins on the train," Aurora said with a smile. "Granted, three of the four never got along with the fourth. Marcus had no intentions of getting along with Oliver, and the Twins hated Flint, so I was always the one defending him. Marcus didn't mind the Twins so much, though. He hated Oliver on principle; he was going for keeper and Flint for Chaser. Later, they were Quidditch captains, so, naturally, they didn't like each other. At least, that's what it looked like on the outside. No one (not even me) ever would have guessed that they've been lovers since fourth year."

"Lovers?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Wood's a masochist. Flint's a sadist. We knew about it; we just never expected him to fall for the Gr... for Wood."

"Gryffindor?" Harry said, an eyebrow cocked.

"Alright, so I was slightly groomed in my first year. I blame Higgs," she said with a smile. "That was when Flint and I became best friends; when I found out his dark little secret. Through all the beatings, all the bloodplay, all the bondage, Marcus loved Oliver. Has since fourth year, seeing as they're still together."

"When did you find out that S... Professor Snape was your dad?" Harry asked.

"The first day of classes," Aurora said, closing her eyes. The memory played out exquisitely, and she opened the link so she could share it.

_Aurora rushes down to the potion's room, terrified of being late on her first day at school. Her mommy told her a long time ago that those who are late never succeed. That was before the dark days, though, before Mommy became mean and started hitting her. Without a word, she bursts into the poton's room just as the bell rings. She sees the potion's master looking down at her with narrowed eyes, but she also senses his confusion. She catches her breath slightly and pulls the slip Professor McGonagall gave her out of her pocket silently. She approaches him on soft feet, wary of making the slightest sound as the fifth years look at her. She can see Marcus and Ollie, partnered and looking angry, yet confused, as she makes her way to the front desk._

_ "P-Professor McGonagall sent this, sir," she said, staring up at him with all the will she can muster. It will be four years until she comes into her metamorphmagi heritage, and her hair is lank and black, just like his. It rests in a single braid on the back of her neck to keep it from falling in curtains around her._

_ "You are... a first year, correct?" Snape asks darkly._

_ "Yes, sir," she replies._

_ "And you do realize that this is a fifth year class?"_

_ "Of course, sir," Aurora says. She senses that he doubts her, but, more importantly, she can also sense that this man is somehow related to her and the memories-_

_-__**He hates you, little bitch, and he's never coming back for you. You're nothing!**__-_

_ -that she has suppressed for so long. Perhaps he is even her long lost father._

_ "Then what, pray tell, are you doing here?"_

_ "I'm here because your first year class would be too simple, __**sir**__," she says, mocking his status without knowing what it is she is doing._

_ "Really? And how would you know this?"_

_ "Wouldn't it be simpler just to see for yourself?" Flint calls from the corner. "If she is good, you've got a batch of freshly prepared potion. If not, you get a laugh."_

_ Aurora sees in his eyes that he doesn't mean it, and she resists the urge to smile; she did, after all, brew a quick batch of dreamless sleep potion on the train for Flint, who has been plagued by nightmares all summer. She doesn't realize that he's really been plagued with wet dreams (not yet, anyway)._

_ Snape nods at the suggestion, recognizing Flint's intelligence. He points her to a desk in the back and turns to his desk, grabbing an ingredients page. He sets it before her and she looks it over. __**Wormwood, asphodel, valerian roots, sloth brain, and sophorus bean; Draught of Living Death. Do I look like a two year old or is he insulting my intelligence?**_

_ Aurora finishes the potion in record time, brewing the whole thing with a flourish and without once looking at the page. To anyone on the outside, it would have looked like she was merely a midget potions master. Flint, who mentioned to Oliver that Aurora looked exactly like Snape, recognized the style immediately as she made the dreamless sleep potion for him. Her flourish, her prowess; all of them are innate signatures he's seen for the last four years. Indeed, it was Flint and Wood who suggested to McGonagall that Aurora be placed in the O.W.L potions class with them._

_ Aurora bottles the potion in silence, taking it to the desk. The confusion and powerful anger that radiate from Snape (she doesn't know how she senses the emotions through the calm mask he wears and it will be six months before she learns the term empath) are enough to confirm her suspicions, and she regards him with narrow eyes as she recognizes the power so similar to her own. Flint and Ollie wait for her at the back of class as the bell rings, but Aurora continues to regard the man before her. Finally, before she turns on her heel, she says one word._

"Father," Aurora said aloud, breaking the trance. "I never would have suspected that I would find my dad at Hogwarts. When I did, I wanted nothing more than to kill him for the pain he caused me. I think I blamed him more than I ever blamed Lily."

"Did he confront you about it?"

"You bet your ass he did," Aurora laughed. "I don't think I could look him in the eye for a month after that."

_That night, at dinner, she sees McGonagall and Snape having an in depth discussion. Sitting fairly close to the staff table, she can hear her name said heatedly twice, and she can barely eat for her anger. Without a word, she stands and collects her things before storming from the Great Hall. Marcus and Oliver catch each other's eyes across the Hall and Marcus silently consents to give chase. He stands and follows her out, not realizing that his head of house has swept from the Hall as well, using the teacher's entrance. _

_ Aurora senses that Marcus is following her, confused. There is little she can do about it as she heads towards the Common Room, hoping that her __**father**__ will not follow her. The hope is ill concieved; Snape grabs her by her collar silently and heads down to the dungeons, dragging her with him. She struggles; it is in her blood to fight, but she is not stupid. She knows he is older and stronger than she. Not even a well placed kick to the groin phases him, although she does sense from him the barest flare of pain. She wonders, in her heart, what has plagued him so that he cannot even feel it when his most sensitive parts are nailed by the kick of a girl who has trained with vampires._

_ "What is your mother's name, brat?" Snape asks as soon as they enter his office. He bolts the door and throws her into a chair._

_ "Victoria Prince-Snape," Aurora says proudly. It will be a month before she makes the connection between last names. She is hoping to rattle him._

_ "V-Vickie?" Snape asks, shocked. It is the first time he has ever displayed emotion outwardly, although it will not be the last for her. "She... she never..."_

_ It is, instead, Aurora who is rattled. With her natural gift for legillimency, she hears his sentence in her head. "She never... never told you?"_

_ "Never."_

"Twas the beginning of a beautiful relationship, that," Aurora said softly. "They had a very angry conversation two nights later after I let slip that Mom smacked me around. She's never touched me since, although I can see it when she wants to. It's like a black aura around her."

"That's awful," Harry said softly, cupping her face.

"Enough about me for now. We can move on later. I want to hear about you."

"It's not pretty."

"Never is."


	8. Harry's Story

_A/N: Ok, so I finally got the lead out on this story and knocked out the two chapters that have had me stonewalled since January. Go me. This story has evolved into something I never thought it would become and it's all because of the encouragement of my lovely reviewers, whom I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart. If you hadn't spoken up, this story would have died a while ago. As such, I think it only fitting that, along with your new chapter, in which we see a very new side of Aurora, all my reviewers get cookies and Starbucks on the house!_

_Thank you so much,_

_Night_

* * *

Chapter Seven- Harry's Story

"I don't remember much about what happened the night my parents died," Harry began.

They were sitting in the common room, having relocated after checking to make sure his housemates were gone. When Harry and Aurora came down the staircase together, Ron whistled and Hermione shot him a disapproving look. Ron tried to get to Harry, but Hermione dragged him out of the portrait hole, looking murderous. It left them all alone in the common room, but they still took the couch wedged in behind the cabinet next to the window.

"I wouldn't expect you to, Harry," Aurora whispered. "You were so little."

She pulled him tighter to her chest and pressed a soft kiss to his hair. They were wrapped around each other in an awkward looking but oddly comfortable embrace. Harry was facing away, his eyes downcast, and Aurora sat against the wall, supporting them both just in case. She suddenly had the feeling that Harry had never told anyone what he was about to tell her.

"There was just a... a flash of green light and this high pitch laughter," Harry said, and Aurora could hear the anguish in his voice. It was almost more than she could bear and she wanted to shout _Stop, stop. I'll die if only he doesn't have to relive this!_ It was a kind of despair that she had never known before, not even when she had slipped Verituserum in her father's pumpkin juice and made him tell her about his life as a spy. She'd considered gouging her ears out afterward, but the sound of pain in Harry's voice made her want to carve out her stuttering heart. "My aunt and uncle never told me what happened to them. They said that my parents died in a car crash. I didn't find out I was a wizard until my eleventh birthday."

Aurora's arms tightened slightly. "What about... before you found out you were a wizard?"

"My... my aunt Petunia was... cold, distant; she didn't want anything to do with me. I only later found that my uncle Vernon threatened her with bodily harm if she ever acted motherly toward me. She had to... be evil, I guess. My uncle Vernon and my cousin Dudley, however... they did it for the sport. Chased me around the house, around the school, humiliated me, scared everyone away from me."

With every word Harry said, Aurora felt the anger she held within her grow. That flesh and blood could treat a homeless little boy as if he were garbage tore at her heart. She couldn't bear the thought of such a sweet, innocent little boy being tormented by his family. It made her blood boil. However, she couldn't command a Muggle execution for crimes against her mate until she was the undisputed Queen. So, she held him tightly.

"What about at Hogwarts?"

"You've heard the stories," Harry said.

"I'm not concerned with the stories."

"First year... first year was like nothing I'd ever experienced. I had friends and Christmas. I felt wanted and loved. Despite everything that happened that year, I felt like I was part of a family for the first time. I loved it here," Harry said softly. "Second year... I still loved it. It was still home... but second year was rough."

"That was the year you were supposedly the Heir of Slytherin, right?" Aurora asked.

Harry groaned. "You heard that?"

"But I never believed it. The Gaunts were the heir's of Slytherin and the only one left is old Valdy," she smiled.

"Third year... Sirius Black escaped. When I thought he was the one who revealed my parents... I wanted... I wanted to kill him. And yet... when I found out who really revealed my parents... I let him live. I let him get away. And he helped Voldemort return!"

Harry was close to hysterics, and Aurora forcefully turned him toward her.

"You didn't want Professor Lupin and your Godfather to become murderers, did you?" she asked. "You wanted a life with a family, something you have now that Black has been cleared, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"You made your first decision as a good person. Were there a few consequences? Yes. But you preserved the sanctity of human life. You prevented him from committing the crime he was convicted of," Aurora whispered. "Voldemort be damned, you did a good thing. Better yet, you did the right thing."

"On the subject of Sirius," Harry said softly, "Am I allowed to tell him about us?"

"You mean you haven't?" Aurora asked.

"I didn't know if I was allowed."

"Harry, being my mate doesn't mean you have to have permission for everything. It's not a slave-master relationship... unless you're into that sort of thing and then it's only in the bedroom," she said with a wink. "Who else haven't you told that you'd like to tell?"

"Well... Mrs. Weasley... and my Aunt Petunia."

"The one who neglected you?"

"She stood up to Uncle Vernon last year and kicked him and Dudley out."

"Alright then."

"Moony... and... Professor Mc-"

"She knows," Aurora said with a smirk. "Her and Dad are working out wedding details... they're taking measurements next week."

At that, she grimaced.

"Speaking of your dad... what are you going to do when you win the civil war and take an anti-Voldemort stance?"

"For the time being, that's in limbo. And how do you know that we're going to win? It's a fifty-fifty shot."

"You'll win. I know it."

"Harry?"

Harry looked up at Aurora. They'd drifted off a few hours ago, by the look of the sun and the noise in the common room on the other side of their cabinet.

"Yes?"

"What happened fourth year... in the graveyard?"

Harry had been dreading that question all morning. He knew what she knew. She knew Cedric was dead and she knew Voldemort had come back. He also knew what she wanted to know; what happened with the wands? How did he survive again? He wasn't so sure he wanted Aurora to know what had happened yet. He wanted to enjoy his manliness some more before he admitted what a sniveling coward he'd been.

"Harry?"

"I hid behind a tombstone while he taunted me in front of his followers," Harry said angrily. "And then, when I'd had enough, I jumped out and didn't even have the balls to kill him!"

"Oh, Harry," Aurora whispered. "There's a big difference between having balls and being ruthless. You stood up to him. You refused to stoop to his level. And when the shit hit the fan, you didn't panic."

"Cedric still got killed. Voldemort still returned."

"And there's nothing you could have done that would have prevented it. He was coming back that night, with or without your blood. If it had been Cedric who got there instead of you, he would have used Cedric's blood. If it had been Fleur, he would have used hers. Krum; he would have used his."

"I still would have prevented it if I could have," Harry said softly. "Even now."

"Then we wouldn't be here."

"What do you mean?"

"Two years ago, I had a plan. Take my NEWTs sixth year. Don't come back seventh. Regardless of what happened, I was going to be gone by the end of sixth year. And then, all this came up. The princess gene was activated. Voldemort found out about it. And I had no choice. I didn't want to live a lie. If Voldemort hadn't come back, I'd be in the midst of a war instead of at the beginning."

"You-"

"Yes, Harry. If the princess gene activated, I was going to take out my mother. It was the plan then, and it still is now," she whispered. "What about last year?"

"Last year was bloody awful, as you can imagine. Umbridge and Fudge breathing down my neck, every student in the school either worshipping the ground I walk on or threatening to kill me just so they didn't have to hear about my insanity anymore," Harry said darkly. "And the dreams weren't helping any, either. Nor was your father."

"He was... slightly angry last year. At you, at me, and at my mother."

"Why you?"

"Well... I... Mom had found out about the activation of the princess gene. Over that summer, she put out a contract on my life. I didn't tell Dad about it _and_ I went ahead and killed the assassins. He wasn't exactly a happy camper."

"Why would he have been? If the mother of my child wanted to kill her, I'd be a little miffed too."

"You don't have to worry about that one. Being mind poisoned by others is not one of my stronger suits."

"Glad to hear that," Harry said softly.

"And... what about this year?"

"Better than the best year ever."

Sitting on the side of the lake all by her lonesome, Aurora reflected on her day with Harry. She had managed to weasel everything between his life with the Dursley's and his life at Hogwarts (years 1-5) out of him. She'd kissed his scars and refused to judge him... openly. By herself, however, was a different matter. His life, yes, had been hard. He treated it as a bad dream rather than a continuing nightmare. He seemed to regard her as a kind of saint. But he didn't seem to realize that, until her father had returned to Voldemort's service and had managed to convince his daughter (upon hearing her description of her hint) that Harry wasn't as bad as he made him seem, Aurora had hated the name Harry Potter and everything associated with it. It had been a private hobby of hers; hating Harry Potter. It was how she and Malfoy had gotten along for so long, even though she had thought he was a prat and was not afraid to tell him so in the beginning. Now, she would often warn him when he was on the verge of being a total prat.

So yes, in the past she had, like her father, assumed Harry's home life was happy and that he was using his fame to attract attention for himself. Upon seeing him on the cover of the Daily Prophet with Lockhart, she had flipped her lid. Several of the Howlers that Harry was supposed to have gotten but were confiscated by the Ministry had come from her from rented owls. She'd managed to keep her nose relatively clean since the Ministry came close to arresting her, but that didn't mean she had kept her opinion that he was and always would be a whiny baby private. Now, to find out that she and her father had both been wrong all along was a shock. It was as if she'd fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

Her father wasn't helping her any.

"You've been using this same spot by the lake for thinking since you were in first year," said a soft voice. Draco sat down beside her and cast a large, Slytherin green blanket over them both. "What have you to ponder tonight?"

"If you came to get me to spill my guts, you might be waiting well into the night," Aurora replied, although she grabbed her edge of the blanket and drew it close. Her temperature, according to her father, was beginning to rise again, and would soon be well over the average human being's. Then it would flash cool so that her core body temperature would still be very high, but surrounded by a layer of icy cells in stasis. By the time she turned one hundred, she wouldn't register on any thermometer. As a result of the heat, everything was getting even colder than it had been before, while her temperature was low. She had a feeling it was a vampire thing, being cold all the time.

"Not your guts, just your worries," Draco replied, scooting closer.

"Well, then you might want to take a number."

"I assume you and your father had another little chat. It's becoming characteristic these days that you both end up screaming at each other by the end of the conversation. But, by all means, sit and stew. I'll just go back to the dungeon with my nice, warm-"

"What do you want me to say? That my dad's going to kick my ass if I don't tell him every little move I make? That... that he's trying to use me to control Harry and I won't let him do it because I love him too much?"

Draco's mouth clanged open sharply and he turned to look at Aurora, blushing profusely. More than ever, she looked seventeen. He had to keep reminding himself that she was actually seventeen. The way she carried herself, the wisdom she possessed, her title; everything made her seem so much older, as if she'd been around for centuries instead of seventeen short years. But, as the tears began to roll down her face, Draco wrapped an arm around her seventeen year old shoulders and leaned her against him.

"How much have you told him?" he asked finally, when the tears had slowed to a trickle and Aurora had resumed staring out at the lake as if she could catch it on fire with naught but her pensive gaze. In less than a year, there was a good possibility she could.

"A little at a time, my friend. If I dump everything on him at once he'll think me weak."

"The only one in this entire castle who thinks you're weak is you."

Aurora snorted sharply, turning into Draco's arms so she was slightly warmer.

"You think I'm lying," Draco said softly, "But I'm not. Every single first year is terrified of you. All of the second years are fearful of you. All of the third years panic when you walk near them. The fourth years try to ignore you as much as you ignore them. The fifth years like to stare when you break up fights. The sixth years are all in awe of you. Ro, you're the only one in this entire castle that doesn't know how strong you really are. Being able to live for seventeen years with a woman who was supposed to love and nurture you but tried to brain wash you instead is proof enough of that. You're currently in charge of the _entire Vampiric Nation_! If I had never met you, hadn't grown up with you, I never would guess you were a student. I would say a professor, perhaps a visiting dignitary of some kind come to offer Dumbledore some advice so the old fool doesn't bumble again. Anything but a student."

"One would think you were in love with me."

"In a way, I am. You're my older sister. You're the mother I never had. You're more than just the peacemaker and the mediator and the fight-breaker-upper. Ro, you're everything to us. You are our hope, our dreams, all of the fight we've ever felt; everything."

Aurora gave a sniff to the air and turned to face Harry. He was wrapped in a blanket, a small, nostalgic smile painting his features. The young vampire stood up and moved to her mate's side, wrapping her arms around him under the blanket.

"You shouldn't be out here. You'll catch cold."

"I've been monopolizing your time," Harry said softly, leaning into her embrace, "But I can't help it."

Aurora, looking over Harry's shoulder, could see his godfather coming down the slope, a lopsided smile on his face.

"I think you have a visitor, Harry," she said, pulling away.

Harry turned, and the smile that exploded onto his face caused Aurora to close her eyes. It was a reminder of what he had been through, the bright, white smile that appeared whenever Sirius came around. He couldn't see that in it, but Aurora herself had once had the same smile on her face whenever she saw Snape, just because she knew he hadn't left her to her lonesome. She knew what it felt like to worry about abandonment.

"Harry," Sirius said, spreading his arms as the young boy sprinted to him.

"Siri," the boy whispered, diving into his arms.

Aurora smiled softly before returning to the rock where she'd left Draco. As soon as she turned, the pain in her heart slipped into her eyes. Although her features did not morph and her face remained calm, the pain that she experienced was easily readable to Draco, who felt his eyes water at the sight. _She's only strong because she has to be_, he reminded himself. It didn't lessen the tearing at his heart; no, it only amplified it as she sat down and he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders again.

"What's wrong?" he whispered softly, leaning his head against hers.

"Birds of a feather, he and I," she whispered. "It shouldn't be this way. He should have a choice, and I forced him-"

"Shh," Draco shushed quietly, and, although godson and godfather were unaware of it, he tightened his arm around her shoulder beneath the blanket. "You forced nothing on him. I was in the forest, remember? He was responding quite well before Hermione yanked you off him."

Aurora had forgotten that Draco was gathering herbs for her father when she had been down by the lake. He had seen everything, although from where he viewed it, he saw a kiss instead of blood-sucking.

"But still... he didn't know," she replied. Her eyes went back to the lake, and her hands twitched with the sudden urge she had to draw. It had been weeks since she last picked up her pencils to even sketch something.

_You have a gift, Aurora. Never forget it._

Ro shot forward at the memory, fear in her heart. It had been a long time since she'd heard her mother's voice, tender in the memory, in her head. She tended to block out the words, and often hoped to avoid even the murmurs entirely. It was dangerous to forget that her mother was dead to her, and the shell was nothing more than an enemy; one that absolutely had to be eliminated.

But, there was another memory, one that was not her own.

_His snake-like tongue slipped out from his lips as Victoria raced ahead of him, running for the house at Godric's Hollow. __**Must warn Lily. Must warn Lily.**__ She could see him, on the inside of her eye lids every time she closed them to let instinct take over, as he followed her. His eyes were deepest crimson, and Victoria knew that he would find out of her betrayal. She could not, however, place the safety of herself above her best friends or her daughter. Life in the service of Voldemort would not be a part of her daughter's future. Her breath, although unnecessary, slipped out in harsh pants as she moved closer to her goal. James, standing on the porch, could see her easily. He'd drawn his wand, and lowered the shields just as she breached them. He raised them again once more._

_"He's coming. He's coming now!"_

_James rushed inside and set his wand on the table as he rushed upstairs to rouse Lily. Victoria stood in the middle of the hall, cataloging everything. She had no idea how much in handy it would come later. Quickly, she began throwing necessary items in a satchel; food, bottles, formula. As soon as Lily was up, she threw the bag to her before closing her eyes one last time. She didn't realize he was so close until she saw him looking at James through her own eyes._

_"Lily, go! Go now!"_

_"James, no!" she screamed, running for him. As Voldemort cast the curse that would end his life, she realized how foolish it had been. She had only confirmed Pettigrew's details. No matter what she had intended, it had backfired. She couldn't win. Not while fighting so openly against him._

When Aurora awoke, she was on her knees before the lake, coughing desperately as Draco slapped her back. Her movements had drawn the attention of both Harry and Sirius, the former of whom was down on his knees before her, holding her shoulders as she shook.

"Aurora, what's happening? What's wrong?" he said, placing one cold hand on her cheek.

As if burned, Aurora stood up. She sniffed the air once before looking at Sirius. "Get them back up to the castle. Have Dumbledore lock it down."

"Ro, where are you going?" Draco asked.

"You're not going without-"

"GO!" she roared, sprinting toward the forest.

Harry's story was about to become much more than reality.

* * *

_Cliffhanger: Guess who's in the woods!_

_First person to get it right gets a cookie and I might be persuaded to update again very soon._


	9. The Vampire, The Werewolf, and The Snake

**_Alright, here we go again. I've been working extremely hard on this story, I promise, because I've found that my Harry Potter readers point wands at me when I don't update in a timely manner, and I'm a-scared of getting cursed into next month._**

**_By the way, if you're looking for something a little more dangerous, with plenty of vampire action and a little more skin from Snape, sometime in the next two months I will be posting a story online entitled Master and Apprentice: The First of Many Things to Come. The summary will be posted in the story and on my profile._**

**_Come check it out, but beware; it just might bite back._**

* * *

Chapter Eight- The Vampire, the Werewolf, and the Snake

While Draco and Harry were being roughly yanked back to the castle by an irate Sirius who was completely confused on why he was following orders from a seventeen year old, Aurora Serpentus was about to come face to face with her actions. Judging by the panicked mindset her mother had to be in while she tried to gather everyone up for a preemptive strike to counter her daughter's preemptive strike, Victoria Snape was having huge troubles shielding her mind. She'd allowed one last memory to slip through the cracks, revealing that she could, quite possibly, be enacting a plot that was fifteen years in the making. Aurora silently sprinted through the forest, sensing deep down that as soon as she made it to the warded circle that was the camp ground of the Phoenix Guard, every single one would rush to her.

As she moved, she felt her emotional pain melt into tangibility. She made a point to run where she could see branches and needles sticking out, ready to poke at her. By the time she made it halfway to the clearing, she was a bloody mess. She kept the smirk of satisfaction from her face by sheer force of will as she felt others, Phoenixes and the Wolves who had answered her summons, fall in beside her, keeping pace with her by the same power holding back her smile of pleasure. Aurora had always been fast, in every thing she did. This time, she knew it would cost her dearly.

She skidded to a stop within the camp ground, taking in the numerous tents and pavilions, as well as the smell of fresh cooked rice. As soon as she broke the barrier, she knew that Angel, at least, would have apparated back. Spike would be only minutes behind him (trying madly to pretend like he hadn't just sucked the former off). Panting heavily, she went to the food pavilion, where half the Guard was situated. Silently, seventeen Phoenixes and Wolves followed her. When she entered the pavilion, everyone stood as a sign of respect, one that she waved off. She took a deep breath and threw her head back, closing her eyes. She could still see the look of fear on her mother's face as she raced to Godric's Hollow, the despondent hate and desperate anger that filled her when she realized that she had, in her attempt to save Lily and James, confirmed their location for Voldemort. It was then that she understood how her mother and father had met, and why, despite the mutual attraction and brilliance in their paring, they'd never mated. She'd given herself to the Snake, performed the only action that she'd ever seen fit to object to when her daughter suggested doing it herself. Everything she'd been through seemed suddenly to make sense.

And, another memory floated to the surface, one that Aurora knew was her own.

_"You dreamed of Voldemort's mind?" she asked softly, looking deeply into Harry's emerald green eyes. They weren't darkened with lust, unlike the few other times that the pair had been on that particular couch._

_"Not always. I had normal nightmares, too," Harry replied, seeming to think that that made everything alright._

_Ro wrapped her arms around him, trying not to cry as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You shouldn't be having nightmares at all, Harry. Is that why..." she trailed off, pulling back to brush her fingers across the fading bags under Harry's eyes._

_"I've gotten used to it," Harry whispered, pressing his lips to her temple as if to comfort her._

_Ro was suddenly and inexplicably angered. Her eyes darkened with rage as she crushed Harry to her chest, holding him for all she was worth. "Shouldn't... be... used... to... it... damnit!" she managed to grind out, reminding herself at the last minute that she could break Harry in half like a toothpick if she wanted._

_"Ro..." he whispered, pulling away slightly. Even though every fiber of her being told her to hold onto him as tight as possible, she let him go. "I didn't mean... to make you angry..."_

_Drawing in a deep breath, one that made her shake with the force with which she drew it in, she closed her eyes. "M'not angry at you. I'm angry at those godforsaken people you call family!"_

_The whole common room seemed to shake as she slammed her fist into the wall above and behind Harry's head. There were several shouts of surprise before Ron could be heard calming the crowd, saying it was probably one of Hagrid's beasts._

_Harry, although he looked every bit as frightened as he felt, laid a hand on her bicep. "Better?"_

_"Much," Aurora admitted, letting go of a breath. She didn't bother going into the fact that she didn't feel better because of the hit, more because of the pain in her fist. They fell silent for a time, Harry simply commfortable being in Aurora's arms, before she spoke again. "Harry?"_

_"Mhm?"_

_"Can you... do you remember any of them?"_

_"I remember one... it... it's about the night my parents died. It's always through someone elses eyes, though. She's running toward the house, and every time she closes her eyes, we can see Voldemort as if he's mere steps behind her. When she finally makes it, she yells at my dad to get my mom up, and then she starts throwing food and baby formula in a bag. She throws it to my mom on the stairwell before she closes her eyes one more time to see what's going on. She... she thinks __**I didn't know he was so close**__ as she sees him coming into the house, looking at my dad. And then... then my dad tells my mom to go. But, he... he gets killed by Voldemort anyway, with the... the most awful... desperate curse imaginable. And then... then he looks at me, and suddenly I'm me again, looking at this... this beautiful vampire woman kneeling on the ground as my dad's blood flows towards her. And, when she looks up... I expect for blood lust to be in her eyes, only... it isn't there. Instead, there's only hate and anger and pain. She lunges for him, but he sweeps her aside. Then, he turns his eyes to me... and... then he..."_

_"He kills you," Aurora said softly._

_"How'd you know..."_

_"Because I've had the same dream."_

Aurora turned to see Angel and Spike standing at the edge of the pavilion. As she headed toward them, a thought crossed her mind, a thought that suddenly made her feel very foolish. _What if I was just remembering the dream again? What if she never really thought those things?_

Somewhere in the back of her mind, an angry voice countered; _**You've never had that version of the dream before. It's impossible for you to remember a dream if you never had it.**_

"What's going on? You said you were going to spend the day with Harry," Angel said softly as she came within speaking distance. He wrapped one bare arm around her shoulders, leading her off to the tent in the camp that served as her confrence room.

"My mother isn't shielding her mind very well, probably because of the stress of fighting a war. The same thing used to happen when I was younger, when she still spoke to me. I'd sometimes hear things that she was thinking instead of what she was saying."

"What did you hear this time?" Spike asked.

"I saw a memory," Aurora whispered as she slipped inside the tent. She dropped into a chair and crossed her legs, closing her eyes as she let all facades of leadership fall away. She suddenly looked every bit of seventeen. "She was running toward's Harry's house at Godric's Hollow, thinking about how she had to get there to warn Lily. Every time she'd close her eyes, she'd see Voldemort... almost as if-"

"He was one step behind. Ro, you've been having that same dream for years," Angel said.

"Will you let me finish?" she roared suddenly, standing abruptly. Every ounce of teenage angst poured from her face. She was suddenly the same terrifying presence she'd been the night before. "She was a spy for us in the first war, putting her life on the line because she mated with Voldemort under an assumed name. After everything that happened in that house, she had a thought. She believed that there was no way we could defeat him while we openly worked against him. She believed that the only way to beat him was to make him think that we believed him. What if she's only doing this to get in with him?"

"Why wouldn't she have told you?"

"She's horrible at Occlumency, damnit! You know how easy it was for me to get into her mind. Why would she risk a good plan by telling me about it?"

"What if she's trying to get you to doubt yourself, hm?" Spike said softly. "What if all this is simply a ruse?"

"Look, I'm not saying we don't go to war with her," Aurora said softly, closing her eyes and quelling her anger. "All I'm saying is that we need to think logistically here. If a stray curse or sword kills her in battle, that's a risk we all take. However, I can't condone executing her without knowing the truth, and this is something we do not tell the council about, understand?"

Angel nodded, but Spike didn't move an inch. "What if we capture her, then, hm?" he asked.

"We interrogate her under the influence of a double dose of Verituserum."

Harry sat silently in the Great Hall, fuming darkly as Draco paced back and forth, reasoning aloud.

"She wouldn't have run off without us for just anything. If she simply... needed to talk to the Guard, she would have been more than happy to let us in. Hell, if diplomats were coming, she would have asked us to go. She's an excellent politician when she needs to be. The only thing that makes sense would be her having to tell them something that she didn't want us to hear... more specifically you," Draco said, looking at Harry quickly before returning to his pacing. Sirius rolled his eyes. "It has to have something to do with the assassination of her mother."

"Wait a minute? Assassination of her mother?" Sirius asked.

"Well, her birth mother, actually. McGonagall's more her mother now. However, long story short, her mother switched sides abruptly and now Aurora's at war with her so that she can get all of the VNU on Harry's side."

"She's going to commit matricide for Harry?"

"Yup," Draco said, although his mind was in an entirely different place.

"That's dedication."

"Doesn't matter," Harry said finally. "I already knew about it. What would she have to hide?"

"Before she slipped off the log, she looked like she was remembering something. What if it was a memory that wasn't her own?" Draco said softly.

"Keep talking," Sirius said, standing up.

"Vampires always have strong mental connections with mates and family members. Aurora used to tell me stories about being able to hear what her mother was thinking, rather than what she was actually saying. She told me one about a rather nasty incident when she heard her mother thinking about killing-"

"Her, and she responded to the thought instead of her mother's words," Harry finished. "What does that have to do with the memory?"

"She could have seen something her mother remembered," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Something that would bring doubt into her true allegiances. Something that would, perchance, explain her recent actions."

"It would make sense. Severus used to talk about how alike he and Victoria were. I assumed he meant in personality, but there could have been more to it than that. He wasn't exactly a happy camper when he found out Aurora was going to kill her, on sight, no matter what."

"That makes even more sense, though. Snape doesn't want her becoming a mindless killer like him," Harry interrupted. "She could very well have really switched sides."

"Doesn't matter. Even if the memory was a plant, Aurora wouldn't kill her mother unless she has absolute proof of her betrayal," Draco said. "As if an attempted assassination isn't enough proof. Anyway, she would be forced to give in and capture her mother, rather than kill her. And that would be dangerous business indeed. If she captures Victoria, and Victoria gives away their location, Voldemort would be on them in minutes."

"But if she kills Victoria and then finds out that she was really a spy, Aurora'd feel awful," Harry countered.

"It's a no win situation and circular reasoning is only going to make both of your heads hurt. Let's just wait for her to come back."

"But Dumbledore's locking down the castle, right?" Harry asked.

"Only for the night, or until Aurora gives him the all clear. Apparently, they have a system set up that only the two of them know about," Sirius replied.

Aurora slipped away from the camp silently. She'd claimed that she needed to get some outside air, but, really, she was headed deep into the forest. She could feel, in the back of her mind, her mother's presence growing closer. And, she was alone. In the sleave of the over large sweatshirt of her sparing gear, Aurora had concealed a vial of vampiric truth serum, double the legal dosage. Being a Phoenix, after all, had its perks.

Things, she knew, were about to change drastically.

Without a word, the young vampire slipped into a seated position. The clearing where she sat was directly in the line of her mother's current path. She would stumble across her, one way or another. Taking a deep breath, Ro allowed herself to simply feel. She had a knife concealed at her waist, her wand was tucked into her hair, and the vial of truth serum was safely tucked away in her sleeve. She was safe.

It had been a long time since Ro had held a civilized conversation with her mother. The last had been at the age of ten, when her mother had calmly told her that she was not to practice magic. It had also been the last time that the words "I love you" had slipped past the vampire queen's lips. The year after, the purple mark on the back of Victoria Snape's neck had begun to fade. She'd become cruel and despondent, torturing those around her with words and violence. The acts themselves were interchangable, and Aurora had usually been at the epicenter. During the experience the young girl had felt nothing but anger and contempt for her mother. It hadn't morphed to pure hatred until her fourteenth birthday, when her mother hadn't even bothered to say a word to her, except to call her an absolute slut. Of course, she'd gotten caught sneaking her favorite Weasley twin out of the Ice Palace, so, naturally, that made her a slut. They really hadn't done anything; that'd been the last time she'd seen Fred Weasley outside of school and the last time she'd even touched him period. The extent of it was the kiss they exchanged as he left, a passionate one that let her know that, if she ever wanted to have another tryst with anyone, he was to be the first on her list. He had been her last, right before she found out that the princess gene was going to activate.

Aurora slowly opened her eyes as her mother stepped into the clearing. Instantly, she leapt to her feet and cast a containment charm, locking them in the clearing and everyone else out. She felt three presences catch the magic she'd cast; Remus Lupin, Angel, and, naturally, Voldemort himself, who was on the other side of the forest, waiting for Victoria.

_So stupid. He'll know now. I don't know if I can hold him off for long. Better make this quick._

"I should kill you for what you've done," Aurora heard herself say. She'd gone completely on autopilot; anything that came out of her mouth now was the truth, the ugly, ugly truth. "I should chop you to bits and feed you to the younglings."

"You should," Victoria replied. "But you won't. You're too soft for this life."

"Not now. I have something to fight for."

Victoria seemed to catch sight of the mating mark on the inside of her arm even as the young woman was raising her arm.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_"

She fell, flat as stone, and her eyes roved wildly. She seemed to have forgotten that her daughter was an exceptional witch. Aurora went to her and pried her lips open, forcing the vial of potion down her throat even as she drew the knife and released the spell.

"What is your name?" she asked sharply.

"Victoria Serpentus Snape," the queen replied, drawing back from the knife at her throat.

"Where do your allegiances lie in the Wizarding War?"

"With Voldemort," she said, trying desperately to stop her lips from moving.

"Why?" Aurora asked, tears filling her eyes.

"I needed you to kill me," Victoria answered. "I needed you to want to do it. I knew, when you were born, that you were destined to be Potter's mate. I knew that if I drove you away quickly, you would grow up the way you needed to, rather than the way everyone before you had. But... I began to see so much of Severus in you... Severus, who would never be mine. I... I began to hate you."

Aurora closed her eyes softly. She wanted to kill her mother, so badly, but, somehow, she knew it wasn't the oppurtune moment. "_Obliviate._"

Aurora stood abruptly as Angel and Lupin skidded into the clearing. She threw up simultaneous shield charms around herself and the clearing, preventing them from hexing her and anyone else from hexing them. She closed her eyes, knowing that she had some questions to answer and yet willing them to go away. As they huffed, breathing heavily with the run, she gathered her thoughts.

"What we say here does not leave this clearing."

Harry didn't see Aurora until the next morning, when the doors of Hogwarts opened once more. She came out of the forest into a beam of bright sunshine, and Harry was hit suddenly by how much he really loved her. In a short spanse of time, he'd begun to rely on her presence simply to function. The eighteen or so hours she'd spent in the forest seemed suddenly to rear their ugly heads as he contained the urge he had to run to her. He knew this would be ill advised; Angel was fuming, and Spike didn't look very happy either. Aurora had made a decision that could potentially get a lot of people killed. Something told him that she'd run into her mother in the forest.

Only when Aurora was on the steps did Harry finally break. He quickly kicked himself into a sprint, leaping at her when she opened her arms with a small sigh and a placant smile. He jumped into the porcelain cage as if his life depended on it and breathed in the heady scent of fields of heather and mountains of pure snow. It was a combination that almost made his knees buckle.

"I have to see Dumbledore. Can you spare me for thirty minutes, or have I pushed your limits enough for the night?" Aurora asked softly.

"I could last thirty minutes, but I'd rather not. I want to know-"

"In time, my love," she replied, cutting him off. "This is not going to be a pleasant discussion and the rage of three vampires is not something you are ready to witness. I'll fill you in when I get back, hm?"

Harry, although he felt the sting in his chest, nodded anyway. Despite their obvious audience, she dipped him down into a passionate kiss, nearly bringing them to the floor as she did so. Even as she was standing them up, her tongue danced with his. When she pulled back, Harry realized that she'd gotten a new addition since their last heavy make-out session; she'd snuck out and had her tongue pierced at some point.

"Be careful," Harry said softly, pressing his forehead against hers as the whistles rang out and he tried to catch his breath. She kissed his nose, as she was becoming wont to do when she felt he needed reassuring, and stepped away, headed off to Dumbledore's office.

"You made a tactical errror in judgement! Admit it. He now knows exactly where our planning is taking place!" Angel roared, shaking the ornaments in Dumbledore's office.

When Aurora had told Harry that he didn't need to witness the rage of three vampires, she was not referring to herself, Angel, and Spike. She was more concerned with Naobi's reaction than anyone elses. After all, if her mother believed she was at the Ice Palace, Naobi would have to start carrying weapons full time again, something very difficult to do with the style of dress that Aurora was famous for.

Aurora herself was simply sitting calmly in the chair before Dumbledore's desk, a cup of tea nestled in her hands as she listened to Angel and Spike rant.

"Boys, I think you're forgetting who you're talking to," Naobi said finally, pushing off the wall beside the floo. "Ro here has always been a master strategist. It's something she's not lost with her humanity."

"That doesn't give her the right-"

"The council ordered-"

"It doesn't matter what the council ordered," Aurora said quietly. "The people have not put it to vote yet, and if they ever ask that is what we tell them. However, that is not the sole reason I let her go."

"Don't tell me; you had a sudden-"

"WILL YOU LET ME FINISH A FUCKING SENTENCE!" she shouted darkly, standing up. The tea cup went to the floor with a crash. "I gave her the Verituserum. She _is_ allied with Voldemort, out of desperation more than anything. Her cruelty towards me was based on my father's love for Lily Potter. That is beside the point. If I were to have killed her, then and there in the forest, Voldemort would have known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where the Guard was doing its business. I planted a memory of her running into a lesser servant and torturing him for information. I specifically planted the idea that I had fled to New York."

"Why ever for?" Dumbledore asked.

"I spoke to the Americans. They are ready to intercept him if he does go there to elliminate me. If he sends any Death Eater, they are not to be touched. When they enter the fl-apartment there, VNU operatives will apprehend them."

"Why would you risk-"

"Because; if the Americans stand up against them, he will be forced to retreat. They have the largest defense system of any nation, now and forever. He would not be able to get inside without laying siege, something he can't afford right now. He needs to think that I am weak."

"Why must you always appear as less than you are?" Dumbledore sighed.

"This time, it is a tactical move. If I put off even the slightest bit of self doubt, he will believe that he can sway me. He will search me out specifically without the intent of killing me. When the time is right, he will come with the intent to persuade me to join his cause."

"You plan on using that to get Harry close enough to kill him," Naobi said softly, looking at her. "It's a dangerous plan that could get you both killed."

"No more dangerous than anything else. It's either this, or I go after him myself. Harry doesn't go anywhere near snake-face without me.

In another part of the castle, Remus, Sirius, and Harry sat silently around a jar of Hermione's magic flame, all staring pensively into the blue fire. They had been there ever since Aurora left for Dumbledore's office, with Remus running in right behind them.

"What happened out there?" Sirius asked finally, turning to Remus.

"I'm afraid I can't divulge that, Siri. Aurora has chosen a dangerous play that could prove fatal, but if it works... oh, if it works."

"She's a whiz at chess," Harry said despondently, as if that said it all.

"What's wrong, cub?" Sirius said softly, sliding closer to his godson.

"She thinks I'm weak," he said simply.

"She does not," Remus said sharply, causing godson and godfather to jump. "She's keeping you out of this to protect you. Really, her plan centers entirely around you. If she didn't think you were strong, she wouldn't have done that."

"What do you mean?"

"As she said, she will fill you in later. She will tell you everything, with time. You must trust me on that."

"How do you know her, Remi?" Sirius asked suddenly, looking into his friend's auburn eyes.

"I... I..." Remus fumbled for an answer. Shortly after he started, he realized that it was all or nothing. "I've been training to become a Great Wolf."

Harry and Sirius both looked at him, wide eyed, before Sirius busted up laughing. "I... I think you're... a great... wolf... Moony," he howled.

"Bloody hell, Sirius. Do you even know what that means?" The remark came, not from Remus, but from Harry. "Do you even know how dangerous that process is, and how many things could possibly go wrong?"

Sirius stopped laughing abruptly, looking at his godson. "What do you mean?"

"Great Wolves, along with Vampyres, came to being in the beginning of time, when life on this planet first began to evolve. They were placed here by the gods to protect the sanctity of life. However, when humans came into being, they realized that, while they could befriend us, father us, and even mate with us, they could _never __**be**_ like us. They couldn't die. They could never return to the divine world from which they came. So, they sent a demand to the Goddess. If she did not find a way to make them mortal, they would no longer fight for her. Around the time that the first true ancient civilization came to its feet, Great Wolves and Vampyres dissappeared from all lore, all records, and all mythology. Werewolves and the modern vampires came to be because of the original protector races, which only exist in small amounts now. Great Wolves form packs, ruled by one central pack that has the true Alpha. Vampyric blood lines run only in the royal family of the Vampiric Nation United and occasionally some council men and Phoenix Guards. Werewolves can revert back to their Great Wolf forms, but if one step of the process isn't fully completed or if one thing goes wrong with the potion, they can be permanently stuck in the form of a wolf," Harry replied sharply.

"How do you know that?" Remus asked.

"Aurora told me. She said her dad heard from someone who wanted him to brew the potion that would allow him to become a Great Wolf. I never thought it'd be you, though," Harry said softly.

"I asked... I asked Snape..." Remus said softly.

Harry bit his tongue.

"Yeah... about that..."

"You have failed me."

Although it sounded like velvet, the voice that uttered the dangerous words sent a shiver down Snape's spine.

"My Lord, Dumbledore himself does not know where the Vampire Princess has hidden herself," Snape hissed softly. "All he knows is that she is rumoured to be in the States somewhere, perhaps on the East Coast."

"And her name?"

"I... I do not know."

"_CRUCIO!_"


	10. Rage Against The Machine

_**-.- This is me glaring at you. I feel unloved. I got 0 reviews for the last chapter I posed! :( So, this chapter is free. The fee for the next is two reviews at least, but I'd like to see it reach ten before the next. Please? Pretty please?**_

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Chapter Nine- Rage Against the Machine

Harry felt her anguish before she ever entered the castle. It was dangerous, animalistic in nature, and it burst forth suddenly. He rose up, startling Remus and Sirius as he wrenched open the door and sprinted down the hall. He found himself outside before he even knew it. Aurora knelt down at the gate, howling in pain as if she herself was kin to the Great Wolf Alpha that stood next to her. She drew a black shape up into her arms, and Harry poured on the speed, throwing himself into overdrive as he started down the hill. He skidded to a stop on the other side of what his proximity revealed to be his soon-to-be father-in-law. Harry grabbed Aurora's hand across his body, giving it a squeeze before he went over Snape's injuries in his mind. All that there appeared to be, as Harry began frantically pealing back the many layers of robes, were a few minor cuts. Most of the damage appeared to be mental. Harry told Aurora just that, knowing she was a skilled Legilimens

She nodded once and focused her mind, ignoring Spike and Angel as they came to her aid. Inside her mind, she focused on her father's distinct magical signature, praying with all her heart that her skill with Legilimency would be enough this time. She prodded Severus's mind with her own, pushing him to open up to her so she could take some of the pain. However, he attempted to refuse. Growling in anger and dangerous frustration, she gave a harder poke, attempting to communicate that if he didn't let her in, she would force her way in. Again, there was a gentle, yet forceful push back. Snarling enough to make the Great Wolf jump, Aurora forced her way through her father's shields using a branch of vampiric alchemy that was designed specifically for mind magic. She could see, swirling in his mind, what it was that had prompted him to keep her out, despite the fact that she had offered him aid of the same kind on several other occasions and he'd accepted it. _"And her name?" "I... I do not know."_

Forgoing a mental beration of her father (there was plenty of time for that later), she attacked him. Her anger, naturally, was pushed aside to another place as she concentrated on taking the pain from his body into her own. Fortunately for both Severus and Aurora, the torture had not been as severe as it had been on the other occasions Aurora had taken the pain from her father's body. She only needed to remove what was left before he awoke, pushing her out with a gentle, yet forceful shove. When she opened her eyes, she narrowed them darkly.

"We had an agreement. Either you gave him my name or I gave him me."

"You can't do that now."

"Watch me."

Aurora stood up as if to go, but Severus grabbed her hand.

"You cannot ask me to reveal the name of my own daughter to a mad man," he whispered. "If it makes me a coward, so be it. It matters little to me what you think of me, so long as you still live in this world to think it."

Aurora didn't turn, but she felt the pain of her father's words in her heart.

"Then I will find someone to give him my name. There are spies in the inner circle, father, spies other than yourself," she whispered softly, closing her eyes. "But you cannot ask me to stand by in vain while he tortures you for information that you possess and have permission to give. By the end of the week, he will have my name."

"And it will be to your own doom."

Aurora stood silently, elbow deep in potions ingredients, while her father dozed silently on a couch in the corner. She knew that the sound of potion brewing would lull her father more effectively than any other noise, so naturally she continued on, in spite of the noises that occurred. She was continuing, in her father's stead, the process of making Remus's wolf's bane potion, and also the potions that would help him make the transformation from werewolf to Great Wolf. So, when said werewolf entered the potion's lab, Aurora didn't even jump. She did, however, bite her lip when Sirius and Harry followed him in.

"Keep it down; he just fell asleep, and I'd like to keep it that way," Aurora said finally, dropping the contents of a vial of golden liquid into the cauldron furthest from her on the work table, a blue-green liquid that was, naturally, perfect to a fault. She beckoned the trio of Gryffindors closer to the table, casting a silencing charm as she began digging through cabinets of ingredients; her father rolled over.

"How long until we're ready for phase one?" Remus asked.

"The potion will be ready in three days. Anda's not sure when he'll have time that day, but he told me he'll find a slot for you."

"Thank you."

Silence settled across the four again as Aurora continued stirring potions ingredients into the liquid. By the time it had changed from a vibrant purple to a deep gold color, and Aurora finally moved to the couch on the other side, Harry was ready to break the silence.

"How soon will he be back on his feet?" he asked finally, taking Aurora's hand in his own.

"I… Most of the time, he's back up in a few hours. This time… he… it's almost like the snake… mind raped him… He's struggling with this, I know it, but he won't let me in."

"Perhaps he won't let you in because he fears what you will discover."

"What I've already discovered is enough to make him fear my wrath. That doesn't mean I'll hurt him. It just means that I'll go around him. He knows this. I've done it enough."

Remus closed his eyes. From what he knew about Severus, he could deduce what was wrong. He could understand Aurora's frustrations as well. Both were equally right. Both were also equally wrong.

"You must look at this from his perspective. You are his daughter, his only child. You are in serious danger of becoming the next target of the Dark Lord. And, you have asked him to give up the information that would give said Dark Lord a serious advantage over you. He needs only your name to work spells on you, Aurora. He needs only to know a fraction of your power to counter act you. Any information you give him gives him power over you," Remus said softly, his eyes still closed.

"And any information that is given him saves my father from his wrath for another day," Aurora said, and Remus could hear the tears in her voice. "I cannot put myself above him, no matter how much he wishes I would."

"Don't try. Just don't push him to give the Dark Lord information."

That night found Aurora by her father's side, as she had been on many occasions in the past, stroking his hair back into place as carefully as a mother would. Sometimes, she felt that their positions should have been reversed; she should have been the tortured parent and her father the beloved child. She could have handled the abuse of a Muggle father and the distance of a famous mother. After all, she had handled her mother sending out assassins to kill her. She dealt with being raised by two gruff guards whose only affection came in the form of ruffled hair and pats on the back.

She was so capable of providing what it was that she never got.

Finally, with a resolve that was unusual, even for her, she stood. Her own intentions were pure, but she knew the road to the goal of her intentions was long, and the ground through it was uneven. Aurora could feel the fear in her heart, and she could understand why it was there. Previously, she would have done what she was about to do in a heartbeat, but now, she had something to live for. She had a purpose in life. And that purpose revolved around Harry. Going around him, refusing to allow him entry into her plan; it felt like a betrayal. However, this was about to be little more than a clandestine assassination; she couldn't allow anyone but those necessary to the operation to know the full extent.

With the exchange of histories completed, the only thing left before they did the dirty deed was the exchange of truthful vows of love. They were close enough, but neither of them could bear to say it aloud. Aurora's fears were outweighed by time. She had a grand total of three weeks before she had to be infinitely more sneaky. It was a one night operation, in and out.

Her mother's blood would be on her hands before anyone could bat an eyelash and all she really needed was Spike and Angel.

Silently, she drew a small vial of sleeping draught from the keg-sized crystal dispensary, knowing that this betrayal, more than any other, would sit in her chest the most. Silently, she forced her father's mouth open and poured the vial down his throat. She plugged his nose gently and allowed him to swallow before she disappeared.

The night was, for once, on her side.

"Hey, Harry, have you seen Aurora?"

Harry Potter stopped and looked at his godfather. Sirius was never concerned with Aurora; he was of the opinion that the little princess could handle herself on her own. However, when Harry watched two sworn enemies come running down the hall, he knew suddenly that Aurora was into something deep.

"What's going on?" he asked as the two enemies drifted to a stop.

"We were hoping you could tell us. She… well…" Sirius began.

"She gave me a sleeping draught last night and left. No one has seen her since. Both Spike and Angel are gone from the camp; they both left in the middle of patrol. No self respecting Phoenix has ever left in the middle of patrol unless called by the Queen."

"She's not Queen yet," Harry whispered.

"No, she's not, but she's close enough. She's been Spike and Angel's Queen since birth," Snape said softly.

"Why would she leave?" Harry asked softly, and, with a silently dejected expression on his face. "I was supposed to be in on the plan."

"The plan to get Voldemort, Harry. Whatever this is, it is not that. She's a master strategist; she would not deviate from the play unless something prompted her," Sirius replied.

"Prompting? Why would I need prompting?"

Three heads turned to face the hall. Aurora, held up on both sides by Spike and Angel, was gently limping her way down toward them, covered in blood.

"My god, what did you do?" Snape asked. He rushed to her, Harry matching him step for step. Both came to a stop in front of her, and, although Snape did not reach out to her, Harry latched on. The blood did not faze him.

"I took what was mine," she said softly, resting her chin on the top of Harry's head.

The climb to the Hospital Wing was long. Aurora's injuries were non-fatal, but the spell that had been cast on her legs was not easily removed. It had been cast incorrectly, meaning that she had partial use of one, but none of the other. Thus, she had to be carried up the seven flights of stairs to the infirmary.

Harry took Angel's place by force.

When they dropped her into the pristine, white bed, Pomfrey had already been alerted and was ready with various potions and herb packs. She knew her patient well and did not tut when Aurora came in. When the Princess got hurt, it was usually for a reason and there was no avoidance. When she came to the infirmary, she was usually beyond her own skill to heal. That, indeed, was rare.

While Pomfrey went to work, Harry sat down beside her. He cast a cleaning charm and then grabbed her hand.

"From the top, what happened?" he asked softly.

"My skill with memory charms is lax, and, although there was no reason for anyone to suspect, my mother is not easily fooled into trusting her own mind. I assumed that, with her sprinting back and forth to rally her small forces, she would not have the time to perform her usual nightly exercises, some of which are designed to allow her to detect and break weak memory charms."

"She broke through the memory plant."

"She had no intentions of telling Voldemort until the time was right and the information had reached its full potential. I had at maximum three weeks to orchestrate a complete infiltration and assassination."

"Why did you even let her live in the first place?" Harry whispered.

"So that she could plant the information that I was leaving to New York. I needed him to back into a corner before realizing that he could just very well have the upper hand. Now, he needs to remember that I am sworn to do a duty."

"The people had not put in their vote," Angel said. "You said that yourself."

"If asked, she was a liability."

"They will want to know why you did not sense that the first time."

"I do not care what they will want to know. With her death, I am Queen until such time as that fate is mine as well," Aurora growled. It was as much as she could do with Pomfrey standing over her.

"What happened when you saw this?" Snape asked softly.

"I drugged you so that you would not wake and find me gone before the operation was complete. Then I intercepted Angel and Spike while they were on patrol. We infiltrated, assassinated, and got out clean. This was a skirmish with Death Eaters on our way back."

"Always a hero," Harry said softly, bringing her hand to his face.

"No, baby, that's you."

That night found Aurora in the Gryffindor's dormitory, curled around Harry despite the protest of a few teachers who were not in the know as to her condition. She could only nuzzle into him and attempt to forget what she had done, who she had killed, and with what savagery she had done so. When Harry put his arms, his innocent, accepting arms around her, she broke. Tears rolled as she held him for all she was worth and prayed that he would still be able to look at her in the morning.

"It's okay," he whispered. "No matter what you did, no matter why you did it, it's okay."

"Matricide? Murder? Assassination?" Aurora sobbed. "What will our children think?"

"They will think that their mother did everything necessary for them to have a life free of tyranny," Harry whispered.

"I didn't do it for them. I wasn't thinking of anyone save myself when I tore her heart out," Aurora whispered. "The only thing I wanted was for her to die and leave me in peace."

"And you still did everything necessary."

She spent the night in his arms, tears drying on her face as she found a way to come to terms with what she had done.

She knew it would all come to a head some day, but hopefully that day was long into the future.

Aurora stood in the wings of the great stage once more, this time with her lover on her arm. Harry stood, his arm wrapped around hers, with all the confidence in the world. _And why shouldn't he be confident,_ she thought, _he's not the one who's getting crowned as Queen!_

Harry squeezed her hand gently, trying and failing to boost her confidence. She smiled weakly at him as Billie Joe finished his speech.

"And now, allow me to introduce your new Queen!"

Ro closed her eyes and allowed herself one final squeeze to Harry's hand. No one but herself and Picies, head of the high council and keeper of the crown, could be on the stage for the coronation. As she took her final steps as a Princess, she allowed the crown of red Celtic knots to appear. Behind her, she heard Harry suck in a breath. It was a sound of awe, something she did not expect.

The clatter of her heels came to a stop as she stepped up before the podium, her confidence returned.

Picies produced a platform from behind the curtain and wheeled it behind her. From within his robes, the oldest living member of the Phoenix Guard pulled a crown of black roses. From that crown, he plucked a single petal. As custom mandated, he placed the petal inside the same crystal structure that had housed a thousand petals of a similar nature before it, and would, in time, house a thousand more.

Once sealed inside, the petal was tied to her life force.

"With the passing of every season, a new flower blooms," Picies said. These words, Aurora had heard before. "May your season be long and filled with ripe fruit."

She bowed her head, turned away from the crowd, and allowed Picies to place the crown of roses upon her head. Blood flowed from the points where the thorns pierced her and was absorbed into the flowers, cementing the bond between the sealed petal and her own life force. If she ever began to die, the single petal would begin to wilt. It was a sign of great reverence, for if the petal ever began to wilt without prompting, Aurora could follow it to her grave.

As if on command, the thorns fell away, signifying the crown's acceptance of her bloodline.

"With this crown comes duty. With that duty, honor. May all three suit you well," the old vampire said softly, something that she had not heard before. Whether it was because she was the first Captain of the Guard in ten thousand years to become Queen or because he simply believed she was a fitting Queen, Aurora would never know.

At that point, as Picies began to retreat from the stage, she didn't care. She had a speech to make.

"It seems like no time at all since I last stood upon this stage, speaking to you in the shoes of a princess suddenly thrust into the world of war. Indeed, it was a mere week ago, on the eve of my mother's separation from this nation. Tonight, however, I speak as your Queen."

There was a cheer befitting of a football stadium.

"I would tell you that, due to my mother's death, there is a clear end in sight. If I had my way, I would be able to tell you that no more of your sons and daughters would be forced to go to war. I would say that there would be no more sacrifice on behalf of this nation. No one would go to war against our adversary ever again. It would be a lie. And, as over used as it is, I cannot tell a lie. There is no end in sight, and even if there was, it is not clear. More of your sons and daughters will go to war before this is over. There will be self-sacrifice on the altar of the Nation. Many will go to war against our adversary before everything is said and done."

The crowd seemed almost disheartened.

"But, for all the fighting that we shall do, I can promise you this. No man, woman, or child will ever be forced to serve Voldemort. No man, woman, or child will be used for his self-same agenda. No man, woman, or child will ever bow to his tyranny. We will fight, and, though the world may crumble around us, we will not bow to his will. He will shove no knives in our backs. He will not hang us in the sun to burn. If war is what it takes, then war is what we will give him, for this, this my friends, is war!"

The cry shook the wooden bowels of the stage. _This is war! This is war!_ They cried. If Aurora hadn't known better, she would have assumed that she had roused a sleeping giant.

Indeed, the giant had never been asleep.

"Tonight, I must also make an announcement," she cried above the noise. Everyone settled back, and the crowd of diplomats and Guards seemed confused. She had not told them of any announcements to be made. Her hand gestured to the wings, and Harry began to move out of the curtains. He came to her side in formal robes, his nicest set, and she pulled him up onto the platform where she stood. "In eleven days time, you will return here again for another coronation. In ten days time, I will be married. We will return to you then as the very embodiment of the alliance between our great Nation and the Wizarding World."

There was a mighty cheer of triumph. Before they left the podium, Harry bent to the microphone. "You're all invited to the wedding! Drinks all around!"

Aurora laughed and looped her arm through his. "I love you."

Harry looked at her, surprised. "You know what. I love you, too."


	11. As Above, So Below

_**OK, so I'm sitting in my favorite chair at my house, watching Looney Tunes and thinking about how stupid Sylvester the cat is when I come to the sudden realization that there have been two reviews since I last updated, and all I was holding chapter ten for was two reviews. So, here goes chapter ten!**_

Chapter Ten- As Above, So Below (The Greatest Rites)

"I can't believe you've never done this before," Harry whispered, panting slightly with the exertion.

"Never," Aurora replied, and she was panting heavily.

Hermione and Ron laughed from the edge of the lake, and Ro let out a snarl of frustration.

It was the day after the coronation and, although she knew that they were on a timetable, Aurora was allowing herself to relax. Why? Because it was the start of the winter holidays, of course. The second freeze of the year had rendered the lake a solid ice cube to a depth of twenty feet. Harry, upon seeing it that morning, had insisted that they go ice skating. In the hour that she had been satisfying Harry's wish, she'd fallen on her but three times. She was determined, as her arms pinwheeled for balance, that she would not make it to four.

Harry grabbed an arm and pulled her straight, at which point she made for the shores. With one final pitch, she landed on her stomach and rolled over, laughing as Harry came to a stop beside her.

"At least there's a bright side!"

"What's that?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I didn't fall on my ass again!"

Inside the castle, on the fourth floor, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape looked down upon the children at the lake with smiles on their faces. Despite the girl not being in her house, Minerva had found herself closer to the young child than any before her or any after save Harry. She was a mother figure to both and she knew it. So, she, when Severus had taken up the planning for his daughter's wedding (three months previously when they had started the mating process), had jumped in feet first. Now, the plans were at fruition, but Harry and Aurora hadn't completed the steps immediately before the marriage.

"What prompted her to push the date up? I thought she wanted to find herself?" McGonagall said softly.

"She has," Snape replied. "She found herself the minute she stepped up before the people. Since, she's only lived for two things; Harry and her people."

"Three."

"Hmm?"

"She lives for three things; she lives for you as well," McGonagall observed.

Snape did not say a word.

Harry and Aurora found themselves alone and very tired after a long day of running around the castle and its grounds, between the childish game of hide and go seek and the very teenager-ish snow ball fight that ended in a bath of snow brought on by a Bombarda from behind a snow bank. Despite how tired they were, they both knew what was coming. They had felt it all day; a desperate desire in them that, no matter how they tried to squelch it, would be brought into reality.

"Have I told you that I love you today?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes, but I could hear it again."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The kiss began tenderly. It was lips on lips, no tongue involved, and the sweetest that Aurora had ever experienced. There was no rough and tumble in it, no fight for dominance or urgency. There was a sense of time slowing down, giving them room to work. She wiggled her wand out of her wrist holster, never breaking contact, and charmed the curtains shut and silenced the area around the bed. She knew what was about to happen and, for once, didn't feel the urge to rush it.

She wanted it to last.

The morning after yielded an almost entirely plucked rose on Aurora's arm, and very satisfied looks from the mates. They ate lunch together at the Slytherin table with Ron and Hermione, bridging the gap between houses carefully. Unfortunately, the peace was short lived. Aurora's foresight had been kicking in slowly but surely, and that afternoon she was faced with her first ever full blown vision.

"Pass me another dumpling, will you Ro?" Draco asked.

Aurora picked up the plate and handed to him gently. Just as the fine dish had cleared her hand, deep-rooted pain exploded behind her eyes. As she closed them in a natural reflex, colors bloomed, forming a hazy yet undeniably understandable picture. She could see herself, restrained on the edge of a field in the Forbidden Forest, screaming soundlessly at her lover. She could barely make out the words _Run_ and _Turn back_ before Harry entered the clearing. His wand was down and his face resigned.

He knew what was coming before Voldemort ever cast the curse.

A green light filled her field of vision and then, lying on the floor of the forest, rested the dead body of Harry Potter. Yet, the body, to Aurora's trained eyes, was not dead. The light fluttering breaths were undetectable to someone who had never felt them. The Boy-Who-Lived had just become the Boy-Who-Lived-Twice before her very eyes. With his death and the death of the snake Nagini at the hands of Neville Longbottom, Voldemort shriveled and died, unmistakably gone forever. She, on the edge of the field, was crumpled inward, and had to be hauled to her feet by Angel and Spike. She had not seen the body as close as Present-Aurora had. She could not know that Harry was still breathing.

Hagrid had to pick Harry's almost lifeless body up to carry it out of the Forest.

When the vision faded, Aurora realized her eyes had been open. She had crumpled to the floor, and her father and Harry were both hovering over her, looking for any sign of life. It was then that she found she'd not breathed through the entire vision. She sucked in air, choking on it as it headed to her starved lungs. Pain like she had never before felt exploded in her mind, and she clutched at her head.

She had heard visions were painful, but never before had she imagined it to be so bad.

"Aurora?" Harry asked. "Baby, please, speak to me."

"I'm alright."

"What was that?" he replied, pulling her tight to him.

"That, Mr. Potter, was a vision. Of what, only Aurora knows, but it was the first of many that, no matter how skilled an Occlumens she is, will slip through before she learns to control her sight," Snape answered softly. He crouched down and pulled his daughter's eyelids back, checking for any signs of serious injury from her trip to the floor.

"What did you see?" Harry asked.

"I… I'll tell you if it comes true," Aurora replied softly, nuzzling into him as her father pulled back.

"If you're alright, Minerva has a fitting for your dress scheduled with Madame Malkin today, and Mr. Potter and I are going to find him a suitable set of dress robes," Snape said, and, although anyone else would have mistaken his voice for being stern, Aurora could sense the love and fear there. She knew that, if she did not wish to go, all she had to do was say so and Snape would call her fitting off.

She, with Harry's help, stood. "All I need is a headache potion. Then I'll be good to go."

In Diagon Alley, hidden in the back of Madame Malkin's shop, Aurora felt the sharp yet gentle hand of Minerva McGonagall as she smacked the back of her pupil's hand for the umpteenth thousand time that hour.

"Stop fidgeting. You'll mess up her pins."

"They're charmed."

"I don't care."

Aurora harrumphed, but obediently stopped playing with the dress. As Madame Malkin returned, she carefully twisted around so that the back of the dress displayed.

It was the most modest dress she'd ever worn, and Minerva still clucked her tongue at it. It was strapless, with a low back that revealed the slowly forming vampiric brands beginning to dot her flesh. By the time of the wedding, they would have grown together to form an intricately beautiful network of webbing, symbolic of the harmony of powers represented in each vampire. Madame Malkin, instead of trying to cover such an integral part of vampiric custom and society, had chosen to play off it, producing a gown whose lace was designed in the same Celtic knots as the brands of vampires and charmed to change colors gently. The bodice was corseted in the front, although there were no laces in the back. Instead, it had a sticking charm and some clever inserts that held it to her body, even if she were to raise her arms and twirl wildly, as she was occasionally wont to do.

"A few more pins and then you're all done, dear," the seamstress said softly as she set to work.

In another part of the shop, Severus was piling dress robes that complimented both Harry and his daughter on the door of the changing room in which Harry stood. He would barely change out of another set before three more appeared.

"Have you found one you like yet?" Severus called, finally having piled every suitable set of dress robes in the shop on Harry's door.

"None that are comfortable."

"I'm sure you could-"

"You and I both know she won't be getting out of that dress until everyone is gone. Appearances aside, she likes the frills. She just doesn't want to admit it," Harry said with a smile.

"Indeed, she does," Severus said, a chuckle escaping him.

Harry tried on a set of pure black robes, no frills or lace, that was simple in the cut, and yet tactfully elegant. They were silk, and very comfortable. As he looked at the price tag, he realized that they were also very expensive.

"You've found a set, haven't you," his soon-to-be father-in-law said through the door.

"Not that I could afford," Harry replied, beginning to take them off.

"What makes you think you're paying for this? Haven't you ever heard; the bride's parents pay for the wedding," Snape replied. He moved the pile of robes onto a chair and wrenched open the doors.

"I couldn't-"

"They fit you well," Snape said softly. For once, he looked at the boy as a son instead of his father. He was handsome, and so obviously wanted to please. The robes he wore, however, made him look like the man he was destined to become. The man that, according to his daughter, he would be by the end of the next school year, when he would give up his life for the world, even if, according to her earlier vision, he would only be dead for a few moments.

"I can't-"

"If I don't force you to wear them, my daughter will skin me alive. You know this as well as I," Snape said softly. "Get changed. I'm going to check on the women-folk. Do not follow me. It's bad luck to see the bride in the dress before the wedding day."

Harry nodded with a smile.

"And don't put those robes back on the rack where I can never find them again."

Behind Snape's back, Harry's face fell.

When he stepped through the curtain into the back of the shop, he felt his heart jump into his throat. Madame Malkin had, indeed, made his daughter ten times more beautiful than she already was. The subtly changing bodice of the dress was well fitted, with a flare of silk and lace coming out from beneath it that the seamstress was steadily working on. Even though the dress was a bit too long, Severus had complete faith in the woman who had been providing young students with their best robes for thirty years. It would be beautiful by the time Aurora was ready to walk down the aisle, and, although he could already tell that Aurora had demanded the train shortened, he also knew that the seamstress would have it her way. It would be longer than Aurora wanted it, and, until she got ready to walk down the aisle, she would not want it so. However, Madame Malkin had been the only one in seventeen years to get her way when Aurora's clothing was concerned.

"How do I look?" Aurora asked softly, a smile coming to her features.

With the end of the courting process in sight, a golden glow had seeped into her features; it was the same glow that her mother had once had.

"Beautiful, sweet-heart. Beautiful," he said softly.

Aurora blushed. It had been a long time since her father had called her sweet-heart, and she never expected it to come from his mouth when she was seventeen. Still, she relished it. The affection, she knew, would be short lived. Their fake fight was scheduled for the first day of classes, in the Slytherin dormitory. It was just a short week and a half after his daughter's holiday wedding, and, although Ro wished desperately they could push it to never, she knew that it had to be done, for his safety as well as hers.

"Alright, Severus, I'm going to have to ask you to step out so she can change. Then, if you please, send Mr. Potter in with his dress robes," the seamstress said as she stood.

Snape obediently removed himself from the room. Harry sat patiently on the other side of the shop, his dress robes folded over his arm. He would stay with the boy, even though he knew Sirius and Remus would be along any minute. Aurora would want him to stay, he knew that. Especially since she and Minerva were taking her funds from the royal accounts and headed on a shopping spree. They had a list a mile long of the things they needed to get and pre-order for the wedding. Along with that, Minerva had a secret list of things for the bachelorette party to get behind Aurora's back.

Snape, of course, had nothing to do with the Stag party; Sirius and Remus were currently over-seeing those preparations themselves.

The day, which passed in a whirlwind for the recently engaged, ended with a spectacular buying spree in Honeydukes on the way up to the castle. Severus and Minerva stood outside for over an hour while the couple spent the last fifty galleons Aurora had procured on a mountain of sweets that Aurora then levitated back to the castle with them.

The night began with an early engagement present from Dumbledore.

"My, my, I see your chaperones didn't do a very good job of keeping you out of the sweets," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"No, no they did not," Aurora said with a giggle.

"I suppose you haven't decided where you're going to put all that candy yet, have you?"

They finally noticed that their trunks were packed and behind the Headmaster.

"I see you've noticed your things. Yes, you're being moved. In light of recent events, I believe private quarters for the betrothed are in order," he said. There was a twinkle in his eye as he levitated the trunks and took over the candy. "If you will follow me, I will show you to your suite."

Aurora and Harry exchanged a glance before they sprinted after the Headmaster. They followed him up four flights of stairs, down three corridors, and deep into a part of the castle that Aurora had only been to once, when she got turned around in the passage between Billie Joe's portrait and Tre's. She'd come out through Mike Dirnt's, deep inside the castle's bowels. It was to the portrait beside Mike's that Dumbledore led them.

"I trust you are aware of the passage between Mr. Dirnt and Mr. Armstrong's portraits?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course," Aurora replied absently. Her gaze had fallen on the portrait in front of which Dumbledore stood. The last time she'd been in that part of the castle, the portrait had been empty. In it now stood an icon of the vampiric world - really, two icons of the vampiric world; Ailleacht and Fearg, the very first King and Queen of the Vampiric Nation United, sat side by side with identical books written in the language of the vampires. "_Je to pocta_." (It is an honor)

"You need not speak in the ancient tongues, little Queen," Fearg said softly.

"_Nadhani tukio vibali hivyo,_" she whispered. (I think the occasion warrants it)

"_Hakika, haina_," said Ailleacht. (Indeed, it does not)

"However, the password to these rooms is in the old tongues," Fearg interjected.

"What is it?" Aurora asked softly.

"_Juu, chini ya,_" Ailleacht said softly.

"Above and below," the young Queen chuckled softly.

"Glad you knew that," Harry replied.

"You will too in a few days," Fearg said softly. "The ancient tongues are a blood language, much the same as parseltongue."

"When you finish the blood bonding, you, too, will be able to speak in the tongues," Ailleacht finished.

"If you four don't mind," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"_Juu, chini ya,_" Harry said softly.

The portrait swung open, and Dumbledore sent their things inside.

"Forgive me if I do not tour your love nest with you," Dumbledore replied. "I have a wedding to help plan."

Aurora groaned softly before Harry pulled her inside.

Curled together in their bed that night, the pair who would, in eight short days, become one said nothing. It was enough to be together, and, Aurora knew, the time was approaching when the blood bonding would occur. The midnight hour loomed, and she could feel a thirst of sorts growing in the back of her throat.

It was this that she had feared the most, and Harry knew it.

"Tonight's the night, isn't it," he said finally.

"Yep," Aurora said, and Harry could sense she was concentrating ferociously on not screwing up.

"Did Spike tell you when?"

"Tradition mandates that one who can resist the thirst until the turn of one day to the next will have an everlasting union," Aurora said. "Basically, 'Wait till midnight. It's good luck.'"

"Are you sure you're not just putting it off?" Harry whispered with a smile. Tenderly, he kissed the tip of her nose, causing her to wrinkle it in an expression of amused annoyance.

"Positive."

Behind her, on the night stand, an alarm went off.

Harry's neck bent to the side on some strange instinct, and Aurora leaned forward.

"I love you," she whispered before she dipped adult fangs into the flesh of the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

The reaction was instant. Harry went limp as a wet noodle in Aurora's arms before a surge of power coursed through his body. He had known early on that the chances were good he would be one of the few who were turned by the blood bonding. After all, his own father had been a carrier for the gene. His body had rejected the change, however, and he remained human for his entire life.

Harry never expected the facilitation to be so erotic.

When the bond was completed, Harry could not squelch his arousal. In silence, he covered Aurora's body with his own, claiming his position as the dominant.

They carried each other's screams into the night.


	12. Wedding Days and Wedding Nights

Chapter Eleven- Wedding Days and Wedding Nights

The eight days that remained between the blood bonding and the wedding passed in an agonizingly slow way for the two lovers. Everyone else in the castle, given that most of them were helping out, except for the minimal first years that stayed behind, believed it was coming up too quickly, but for them it was as if the world began to crawl. So, the pair amused themselves with talk of the future.

"Boy or girl?" Aurora asked softly.

It was the eve of the wedding. She, Harry, and Draco sat in their private rooms, before the roaring flames of the fireplace, discussing the future. It was Aurora's turn to pose a question on the newest topic, children, and she directed it at Draco.

"I'm thinking a little boy," he said softly.

All eyes turned to Harry.

He had grown in seven days, more so than ever before. The transformation had made him into something he was born to be, something he should have become long before he did. He sat with his arm curled around Aurora's shoulders, showing that he was dominant as he had been all week and as he would continue to do until the wedding ceremony was complete and his instincts were laid to rest. On his arm, too, rested a mating mark with only two petals left.

The wedding, and the child upon which he was being questioned.

"I see a little baby girl in our future," Harry said with a smile.

"I think you may be right," Aurora replied.

As to Draco's presence, the pair had been easing him into vampiric customs and traditions, preparing him for the day, three days hence, when Aurora would take up the mantle she had intended to press upon her mother and turn Draco into a vampire, there-by freeing him of his father's control and Snake-Face's evil influence.

"So, does this mean vampires can sense the gender of their first child, as well as everything else on the planet?" Draco asked with a slight eye roll.

"Prat," Aurora warned.

"Sorry."

"No, vampires do not 'sense' the gender of their first child, or any of their children as a matter of fact. A skilled vampire can influence his or her sight to see the gender, but not with any degree of certainty," Harry answered. "It's more gut instinct than anything."

"So, does that mean…" Draco trailed off.

"I enter the cycle tomorrow night. That's why I've been brewing a potion in the back lab and keeping Father out of the way of it. He doesn't need to know what I'm about to try and do."

"Why are you trying to get pregnant?" Draco asked. "Why not wait until the war is over, when the child can have a better life?"

Aurora closed her eyes. It was painful to talk about, the decision that had been twelve hours in the making. It was the headiest decision she'd ever had to make; to facilitate pregnancy or to let nature take its course? They had chosen facilitation. Thus, Aurora had been brewing ever since.

"The chances are slim to none that any of us ever come out of this war. We've all beaten the odds before, but the VNU has never been without a royal since its formation. As much as I'd like to be selfish in this case, I'm finding more and more often that who I am is directly related to the duties I have and the roles I play. I can't put myself above my people, for I am their servant. It doesn't work the other way around. They do not serve me. Their needs do not come after mine," Aurora said softly.

"How much input did Ailleacht and Fearg give to this decision?" Draco asked.

"None. Their influence was only after the fact," Harry replied, even though it wasn't necessarily true. Both had consulted the ancient King and Queen separately and then together about the possibilities regarding such a transgression. A royal pregnancy hadn't been facilitated since the heady days of the Crimean War, when VNU vampires were almost exclusively of Russian descent. After the botched attempt had almost cost the VNU its royal bloodline, and thus nearly prevented the continuation of the nation, vampires grew wary of fertility potions. Facilitation could not be outlawed any more than abortion, but it was highly frowned upon in the Family.

Both Ailleacht and Fearg suggested they do so, but that they keep it as quiet as possible. Pass it off as luck, they both said.

"What did they do after the fact?" Draco inquired.

"They procured the recipe for the potion from my father," Aurora said with a smile.

It had, indeed, been a stealth mission of the finest kind. Aurora knew that her father kept a ready supply of both abortive potions and fertility serums on hand, but he counted both sets daily in order to insure that students weren't stealing them to either conceal pregnancy or to advance it. It was too risky to steal one, as Snape would kill his daughter if he found out she was doing such a thing. So, she waited until the opportune moment, when she knew he'd be brewing more, and sent Fearg, a potion's master himself, down to her father's private lab. She had concocted an illness, with the help of the Weasley twins, and, while Fearg, who had ensured he was brewing a fertility potion rather than an abortive one, was guiding the worried father to her rooms, Ailleacht wrote down the fertility serum recipe.

Snape had accounted it to an aftermath of the early stag party, held five days before the wedding in order to throw supporters of Voldemort off, and said it was probably meant for Harry.

Aurora had sent the twins sixty galleons each and promised them first pickings in any of the six world malls controlled by the vampires.

Since, she had been up to her elbows in potions ingredients, desperate to make it perfect. She'd even procured nepenthe, as called for in the original recipe and for which her father had substituted Muggle morphine. It worked just as well, but Aurora was taking no chances.

When the potion was finally ready, it had to stew for two days. Aurora was waiting for the witching hour to remove the cauldron from the heat, having marked off exactly 48 hours as 12:00 A.M. on the morning before her wedding.

As the time approached, Aurora stood and headed into the back room, leaving Draco and Harry alone together.

"Are you worried?" Draco asked softly.

"About?"

"About the war. About the role you'll come to play. About what she saw?"

"No."

"I would be if I were you," he replied, his voice scarcely above a whisper.

"There's a damned good reason I'm me, then," Harry replied with a smile.

When the night turned to day, the lovers-to-be-wed awoke with the sun to the sound of beating fists on their portrait. McGonagall did not know the password, and Aurora had changed it since Dumbledore had last been down, so that Harry wouldn't have to try and learn the ancient tongues before it was time. Thus, after Ailleacht and Fearg denied them entrance, they began to beat on the portrait after its occupants left.

Aurora pulled on Harry's button down and a pair of sleeper pants before heading to the door. She was greeted, upon opening it, with the sight of her father, surrogate mother, and Dumbledore standing in a ring outside. She rubbed her eyes ferociously and stood to the side, allowing them entrance.

"We've got a full day ahead of us," McGonagall said softly. "After all, we've got a few things to collect."

"Huh?"

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."

"Again, I reiterate; huh?" Aurora said as the men-folk headed in to wake Harry up.

"Oh, dear. We have to get you something old, which I believe I've found, to wear. The thing that is new is your dress. From your maid… her… man of honor, we're borrowing the tiara and veil that his grandmother wore, and the blue is a surprise."

"Wedding tradition," Aurora surmised. For a moment, she had been confused as to the man of honor reference, until she remembered that all her bride's maids were female save her maid of honor, who was, in fact, Draco Malfoy.

"Indeed. Another one is that the bride and groom are separated for their preparations. As such, you and I and your bride's maids… and Draco are going to Diagon Alley to pick up the dresses and his robes. After we leave we'll come back here, at which point the groom and his groom's men will go pick up their dress robes."

"The wedding's at noon, right?" Aurora asked.

"Yes, why?"

"Why on earth did you get us up at this early hour!" she snapped, but there was a smile on her face as she said it.

"If seven o'clock is early, m'dear, you've been sleeping in too much," McGonagall said, but there was a school girl's pinkish hue to her face as she said it, and a laugh bubbled out of her despite it all. It was the first time in a long time Aurora'd heard it, and she reckoned it'd be a long time before she heard it again once tomorrow dawned.

"I have been, haven't I? I have the distinct impression it is a trend that will continue," she said thoughtfully.

"You have a feeling about tonight, don't you," Snape said, returning. "You've been acting strange all week, like you were both anticipating and dreading this night."

"I have been. It is the end of an era that never fully finished, but the beginning of one that seems so much brighter," she said softly, hoping that he hadn't noticed the small vial of perfectly brewed and portioned potion sitting on her nightstand.

"I hope your right," Snape said softly. "I plan to have grandkids to spoil when this is all said and done."

Aurora smiled as Minerva whisked her out the door.

At Madame Malkin's once again, for the great dress pick-up, Aurora felt it all close in around her. The pieces came perfectly into place, and she had to smile at the puzzle's completion. She had been wrong earlier; this last day in the era of Aurora the Teenage Princess was, indeed, the epilogue. It was the final chapter in one volume of her life. The time of Aurora the Queen, Aurora the Leader, Aurora the Strategist had come. And, as Picies had predicted, she foresaw a long and prosperous journey ahead of her and her lover.

She also knew, as a woman who in and of herself was a controversy, that she was bound to break a few stuffy rules along the way.

"To the first Queen in fifty thousand years to be born to an unmated woman," Hermione said. They were at the Three Broomsticks, having already gotten all the dresses and robes from the great dresscapade, where Madame Rosemerta had ushered them in despite the fact that they still had business to attend to. She sat them down for a round on the house. Minerva turned a blind eye to the shot glasses of Firewhiskey that sat on the table, electing instead to talk to the barmaid.

All the girls and Draco put their glasses in the air before knocking back the shots. Aurora felt her nerves fade a little. "One more round. I have a toast to make myself, my last as a single woman."

Everyone clapped in agreement, and Rosemerta, despite her better judgment of the alcohol tolerance of children, poured each of them another shot.

"To the free will of all mortals to get married and to the blessed force of the goddess on vampires to be mated. Mortals get the fun of choosing a partner, vampires get the blessing that it always works out!"

There was a resounding cheer as everyone knocked their shots back.

In another part of the world, Voldemort sat on his high horse in silence, a growl painting his features.

"What do you mean your son will not be returning? He was promised to me!" the Dark Lord snarled. To lose a plaything was never good.

"He has chosen exile and enlisted the aid of the vampire Queen," Lucius said softly. His head was bowed, masking the fear in his eyes. Not fear for himself, no. He was more than willing to take the punishment that Voldemort would dish out. He had only so much to give, and when Bellatrix had sworn his son would be the Dark Lord's new toy, he brought it upon himself to find a way to keep the boy out of it. It had been a blessing and a curse when Draco sent home a letter with his faithful owl, declaring that he had sided with the vampires and was marked to be turned: a blessing because, under the grace of the Queen Aurora Serpentus, he could not be touched, but a curse because the boy had been driven away from his parents by a mad man.

A mad man who was about to curse Lucius into oblivion.

"You will find me another, one to take his place for at least a short while," Voldemort commanded finally, putting his wand back down at his side.

Lucius made a silent vow to find the most disease infested hooker he could.

Among the many perils Harry had associated with Snape, he never thought the brutish love with which the man now regarded him would ever be one. He should have known better, however, than to trust the man with helping him pin the flower to his dress robes.

"Ow!" he cried for the umpteenth time as the normally nimble fingers fumbled.

"Sorry," he said, again for the umpteenth time.

"Here, Severus," Remus said finally, giving the potion's master a gentle nudge. "Go to Aurora. She needs you now more than ever."

Severus exited the guest rooms in which Harry and his groom's men (Ron as the best man, then Neville, Fred, George, Seamus, and Dean) were situated, getting ready. Guests had already begun to arrive, and most of the staff and the house members who had elected to stay behind and help were busy serving punch and light cookies while getting everyone seated. The house elves were in the kitchen, as they had been all morning, cooking non-stop in lieu of the two-thousand guest wedding. Tables had been moved aside and chairs had been placed where they once stood, enough to seat every guest that had replied to their invitation plus the several hundred vampires that had shown up per Harry's verbal invitation.

Everyone knew that a chunk of the guest list would be knocked out when the carriage containing the vampiric high councils and the Phoenix Guard arrived.

"The Love Eternal," Snape said to Fearg, who was sitting alone in his portrait.

"Ah, Severus, good to see you. She's decent, so it's safe to go in."

"Where's your wife?" he asked.

"Calming the bride, of course. Her nerves have kicked in again, despite two shots of Firewhiskey at the Three Broomsticks earlier," Fearg replied.

"Naturally," Snape drawled, even as concern laced his features.

The portrait swung open, and the wedding party for the bride turned. Aurora was in the center, seated on a stool as McGonagall began the final process of getting her hair, curled and piled atop her head in its natural colored glory, to stay where it was. She was using a combination of Hermione's hairspray and a sticking charm powerful enough to stick a bull to a tissue paper ceiling.

Tears blurred Snape's vision as he looked at his daughter, once so much a little girl.

Minerva put Draco's grandmother's tiara in the final stack of curls and Snape produced a small, weathered, but infinitely beautiful pearl bracelet.

"Your grandmother wore it when she married your… grandfather," Snape said softly. "It was one of her most treasured possessions."

Aurora said no words. She simply put the bracelet on.

"Now all we need is something blue," Draco said from the corner he was leaning on. He produced a blue velvet box from behind his back and handed it to Minerva, who lifted its contents out and fastened it around the bride's neck. It was a silver chain, attached to which was a light blue crystal phoenix.

"For all the world to see," Hermione said softly.

Aurora stood, and Snape looked at the bride's party quietly. There was one more bride's maid than there was groom's man, which worked out perfectly since Aurora's maid of honor was a man. Draco, Ginny, Hermione, Pansy, Daphne, Alicia Spinet, Luna Lovegood, and Angelina Johnson all stood, gathered around in a small yet tight group. They'd all been growing closer, indeed, all the students in the wedding party had been. It helped greatly that they'd all known Aurora or had respected her at the very least before Harry came into the picture.

"I believe it's time for the parties to come together," Snape said finally.

Aurora stood in the shadows, knowing that Harry was out waiting for her, standing where the teachers normally sat in the Great Hall. When she heard the wedding march begin, all the strength left her knees, and her grip on her father's arm became vice-like. Even though she knew what was about to happen, she was still aware that everything was about to change.

"Are you alright?" Snape whispered.

"I'll be fine. I've just gotta get my second wind," she said softly.

Ginny looped her arm through Draco's and they walked down the aisle together, both going to stand in the empty space beside where Aurora would stop at, a single woman for the last time. Once they reached the end, although Aurora couldn't see it from the angle at which she and her father stood, Hermione and Ron came together and looped their arms together. They, too, disappeared into the Great Hall. When they reached the end of the white aisle, they split apart, Ron standing next to Harry as Hermione went to stand beside Ginny. As soon as they were situated, Neville and Luna came together and entered. When they had split apart at the end, Fred and Alicia went in. After them, George and Angelina walked the aisle. Then, Seamus and Pansy, who had finally managed to get past their bull headedness, followed by Dean and Daphne, who had had a secret relationship since the beginning of the year.

After that, the bridal march began to play.

Aurora closed her eyes as she, her father, and Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint, who had been forcibly coerced into carrying the train, began to move forward. Step by step, Aurora felt herself tense up, and, even though she was still moving, she felt certain that she was going to burst.

The look on Harry's face made it all worthwhile.

His jaw dropped almost noticeably when she entered, and she felt all the tension slide out of her. Their eyes locked, and Aurora felt that she could get past the thousands of eyes staring at her. Even then, it seemed endless as she approached the end of the aisle.

"Who gives this bride away?" Dumbledore said softly, for he had been chosen to preside over the wedding.

"I, Severus Snape, her father, do," Snape said softly.

Aurora stepped gently up onto the stage like platform. Harry took her hands into his own, and they both looked to Dumbledore.

"This is the time you have chosen to become one. Your union, destined from birth as it is, has not been without its trials. It has not been an idle choice the two of you have made to marry on this December 19th, nor is it an easy choice. We are here, not only to witness this union, but to wish you your every happiness in your future together. This evening will find you among friends and family as you begin your journey into the world of the unknown together. May it be a long and happy union," he said softly.

Aurora took a secret breath of air. Harry noticed even as Dumbledore continued on and smiled at her.

"Do you, Harry James Potter, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to live together under the laws of the Goddess in the blessed state of matrimony? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?" he asked.

"I do."

"Do you, Aurora Adriana Serpentus, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to live together under the laws of the Goddess in the blessed state of matrimony? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?" he asked again.

"I do."

"Repeat after me; I, Harry James Potter."

"I, Harry James Potter."

"Do hereby take you, Aurora Adriana Serpentus."

"Do hereby take you, Aurora Adriana Serpentus."

"To be my wedded wife."

"To be my wedded wife."

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer."

"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer."

"In sickness and in health."

"In sickness and in health."

"To love and to cherish."

"To love and to cherish."

"Till death do us part."

"Till death do us part."

Dumbledore then turned to Aurora. "Repeat after me; I, Aurora Adriana Serpentus."

"I, Aurora Adriana Serpentus."

"Do hereby take you, Harry James Potter."

"Do hereby take you, Harry James Potter."

"To be my wedded husband."

"To be my wedded husband."

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"To have and to hold from this day forward."

"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer."

"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer."

"In sickness and in health."

"In sickness and in health."

"To love and to cherish."

"To love and to cherish."

"Till death do us part."

"Till death do us part."

Harry and Aurora separated their hands, and Dumbledore's smile seemed to grow even bigger.

"Bring forth the rings."

Aurora almost had to giggle as, in her mind's eye, she saw the Council of Elrond before her. Draco and Ron produced the rings, which they gave to their respective betrothed.

"With this ring, I thee wed," Harry said softly as he placed it on Aurora's shaking left hand. "Wear it as a symbol of the love eternal."

Aurora, her right hand shaking even worse than her left, placed the ring on Harry's hand.

"With this ring, I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of the love eternal."

Dumbledore's booming voice rose again. "If anyone has a just cause as to why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace!"

Aurora felt suddenly that someone would come running into the Great Hall, objecting to the marriage. No one did.

Dumbledore put their hands together and spoke again. "What the Goddess has put together, let no one tear asunder. Forasmuch as Harry and Aurora have consented to be in wedlock, and have witnessed the same before all, and have pledged themselves to each other, and have declared the same by the giving and receiving of the rings and the joining of hands, by the power vested in my by the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce them husband and wife, King and Queen of the Vampiric Nation United. You may kiss the bride."

Harry gently lifted the veil from Aurora's face and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. Whistles and cheers erupted from the crowd of Phoenix Guards at the back, and everyone else soon joined in as Harry pulled back. Dumbledore turned the both of them to face the crowd.

"May I now present to you Harry James and Aurora Adriana Potter," he said loudly.

By the time the last of the guests had cleared out, the bride and groom were already in their bedroom. By the light of the moon, Harry could just see the curve of his new bride's bosom. He cupped it gently in his hands, knowing what was about to happen. Aurora knocked back the potion she had finished brewing earlier and then covered Harry's hand with her own.

"Take me. I'm yours."


	13. The Price of Freedom

**Sorry for the length of time between updates. I've been really busy with Calculus and Band Competitions and the whole getting-ready-for-college crap. So, here's a new one for you. Enjoy, and remember to click the button at the bottom that says review, since I live on your feedback :)**

* * *

Chapter Twelve- The Price of Freedom

When Aurora stepped up to the podium which she had begun to dread and love, she knew what she was going to say. For her, it was all going to be bullshit.

Then, she looked out at the thousands of faces that had gathered for the coronation of their King. She couldn't bullshit these people. She existed to serve them. She could not say falsehoods.

"When I came here tonight," she began, "I was intent on portraying the situation in the best light possible. I know now that I cannot. Many good things have come from these past few weeks. Our plans are in motion. Our world is beginning to turn again. Farmers and smiths who were once out of work are now employed again. But the end result is the same. Amidst the weddings and farming, we are at war. Some—too many—will die in this effort. The price of our freedom is high, and it is something that we grudgingly pay. It has been ten thousand years since we were last involved in the wars of the wizarding world. With any luck, it will be ten thousand more before any of our sons and daughters see the wrong end of a wand pointed at them.

"I do not fear death. No one here truly fears death. It is a gift many of us will never receive, a reprieve from the endless torment of life and emotion that we are bound to. But, when the curse of an endless night becomes an escape route, a gift of freedom rather than a binding of chains, the world has turned itself on its head."

Here she paused, for she was at a crossroads. It would not be the first time she had announced something to the world as well as the council. It would not be the first time that Billie would be awaiting her in the wings, ready to rip her head off as quietly as possible. It was also better that way. At least she did not have to worry about rumor control.

"I had not intended to announce this tonight. I had hoped to see it through before anyone knew about it, but I believe now that that would be a wrong move. As people of this nation, you deserve transparency, which is something you have lacked for as long as my mother has had control. Tomorrow night, I will have a fledge beneath my wing. Draco Malfoy, by royal order, has been Marked at his own request. He has requested this eternal night to escape a life in the service of Voldemort as the beast's sexual play thing."

Behind the curtain, Aurora's keen ears heard Harry draw a sharp breath.

"Who am I to deny him this avenue? It is, indeed, his only option. There is no other way he can escape the binding promise that was made without his knowledge, no other path out of the nest of thorns he is in but to go deeper into the darkness.

"There is no light left that I can shine into this jungle of ifs, ands, or buts. There is no match I can strike, no fire I can create, that will banish this nightmarish beast from our horizon. There is only the roar of a thousand voices as we drive him from our doorstep and into the darkness he so covets. There is only the weapons we wield and the greatest threat of all that we have to defend ourselves with. We will make him fear the night before we are through with him! He will flinch whenever darkness falls and he will wonder what it is that follows him so determinedly down the corridors and alleys of the world! He will know what it is like to have no fire with which he could possibly blot out the night! And when he fears night more than any other, we will bring him to his knees and drive a stake through his heart, much the same as he would do to us!"

The crowd roared in return, motivated again by the brash confidence their Queen displayed. In the crowd, even Billie Joe smiled.

"That is not why we are gathered here tonight!" she called, silencing the crowd. "We are gathered here tonight because I am wed, and, as in the days of the great Ailleacht and Fearg, what my blood has shall pass to him.

"We are gathered here to crown a King!"

Aurora stepped down and off as Harry passed her on the stage. She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and stepped into the shadows, where Billie Joe stood.

"Is this going to be a trait of your rule? Will council always find out what your plans are through public speeches?" he asked, but there was a smile in his eyes.

"Not always," Aurora replied.

"And the Malfoy boy?"

"He will be turned tomorrow."

"This is the second time you have circumvented us in a process of the world," Billie marked.

"It will not be the last."

The next day was spent in the dungeons, preparing a small set of chambers in which Draco would live for the remainder of his time at the castle. Aurora was determined that everything go as smoothly as possible. She was also determined that Harry wait in their rooms until she sent for him.

"I promise; Fearg will come to you if anything happens that I can't handle. Just go to Mike's portrait, say Aurora Borealis, and hang a left at the first intersection. You'll be here in an instant."

Draco's rooms were right beside the portrait of Tre Cool in the dungeons, around the corner from the Slytherin Common Room.

"Ro, I don't like-" Harry said softly.

Aurora put a finger to his lips. "Down here, you will only be forced to fight the jealousy. You are not ready and I can't risk any accidents."

"Let me wait outside then," he replied, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Only if Father agrees to wait with you."

And that was how Harry and Snape found themselves outside Draco's new private chambers the night after Harry's coronation. The marks where the thorns had dug into his scalp had not faded yet, and he felt an unbearable itching overcome him whenever he was more than twenty-five feet from Aurora.

Snape had already smacked his hands several times.

Inside, Aurora wiped the sweat from her brow. She was nervous, that much was certain. Even with Angel standing by, she had little confidence. Draco, however, had enough faith for the both of them. She looked up one last time at Angel, and Fearg behind him, before her fangs fully extended into her mouth. She closed her eyes and descended upon Draco's neck gently.

"Hold very still," she whispered softly.

Turning a human into a fledge is no easy task. One wrong move and they can become the Damned, angry spirits walking the Earth forever doomed to drain the blood of the living. Aurora felt that that still would have been a better fate than being Voldemort's sex toy. So, when she pulled away from Draco for the last time and felt his core body temperature drop, she smiled.

"You did it," Angel said softly.

"I did."

Draco nestled down into the comforters, sleep claiming his body as the changes began to cement themselves. Aurora passed the ball to Angel, who would wait with the young man through the night in case anything should happen. Fearg promised to wait for morning as well. Aurora turned one last time.

"You've got it easy, prat," she whispered with a smile on her face.

When she exited his rooms, all the remaining strength was sapped from her body in an instant and she tumbled headlong into Harry's arms. He swung her up bridal style, as he had done three days previous, and carried her back to their rooms. Once inside, the emotional dam broke in half, and tears poured from Aurora's face. All the nerves, the fear, and the emotions she had felt since the day began finally took their toll. Harry kissed the tracks her tears made, realizing, when she clung to him, that once again they would do their lover's dance.

He also knew that they would be in bed all day the next day.

Harry's prediction was correct, for the most part. He and Aurora spent all of the next day in their bed, locked in a dance neither could seem to resist, or on the couch with bowl after bowl of popcorn and many, many movies on the Muggle television and DVD player Aurora had procured and modified. Only once did they leave, and that was after day had faded. Together, they made the journey down to Draco's room.

Ailleacht had been giving them reports on the hour, and all seemed to indicate that Draco was coming along admirably. Angel had stayed with him, refusing to leave the young man's side. When Aurora entered the room, she suddenly understood why. Despite being equipped with foresight, nothing could have prepared her for the sight that greeted her as she opened the door to Draco's bedroom.

If Angel had been in the sack with Draco, she wouldn't have been surprised. The man's sexual appetite was unbelievable and she knew for a fact that he hadn't been tapping as much ass as he was used to, if you'll forgive the crudity. But, that was not what greeted her as she entered her fledgling's room. No, it was to the sight of Angel tenderly brushing the boy's blonde hair out of his eyes with his right hand, revealing a black rose tattoo that Aurora had never seen before.

The same tattoo had recently been plucked down to a core that was slowly beginning to fade, not that anyone but Harry knew that, rested on Aurora's right arm.

"Angel," she whispered. She had never suspected that her fledge would be Angel's mate.

The second in command jumped to attention, pulling his sleeves down. On the bed, Draco whimpered at the loss of contact.

"Ma'am yes ma'am," he said sharply. He had immediately gone into military mode.

Aurora chose to treat his as such.

"What is that tattoo on your arm, Phoenix?" she snapped. Harry physically recoiled at her voice.

"Ma'am, which arm, ma'am?"

"Right, soldier."

"Ma'am, a black rose, ma'am."

"And what, pray tell, do you think that means?"

"Ma'am, it means I've found my mate, ma'am."

"At ease, Angel," she said softly. "How long have you known?"

"Since last night," he whispered.

"What's the big deal?" Harry asked, jumping in finally. "He's found his mate."

Aurora smiled softly at his innocence. He hadn't been well educated in their four month whirl-wind romance on the customs of vampiric royalty other than the duties of the King. He couldn't understand that, while the mating could not be force-separated, Angel could possibly have to resign his position in the Guard. For, last night as Aurora finished turning her fledge, she saw the slowly forming phoenix begin to appear on Draco's shoulder.

A mating within the Phoenix Guard was forbidden by royal order over thirty thousand years after the deaths of Ailleacht and Fearg. It was the only mating decree to ever be passed.

And now, Aurora had to go to bat in order to keep her second in command.

Billie Joe Armstrong hadn't felt like a student since long before his reign as king. Yet, as he approached the rooms his great granddaughter had been living out of since a week and change before her wedding, he felt like he was about to learn something new.

As he approached the portrait of his ancestors, Fearg disappeared inside. He stopped before the queen, his head bowed.

"She is distraught," Ailleacht remarked softly.

"Why?" Billie asked.

"You will know soon enough."

At that moment, the portrait swung open, revealing a red head that the head of the North-South American sub-council knew was the wizarding strategist that Aurora had chosen to help plan her attack.

"Ron Weasley, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Ron said. He was docile, subdued, and he looked like he'd spent some time gnawing on his nails. All in all, not the fire-crotch Aurora had once described.

He was led to the sitting room, where a cluster of people surrounded Aurora. Once she saw him, despite the red rings that showed she'd been crying, something that Aurora only did when she was frustrated, and she had only ever been frustrated when Angel was involved, she stood.

"Come with me. We have much to discuss before this day is done," she said in a choked voice. The ancient tone she used showed that she was not fooling around. Something had happened that warranted his council.

Billie nodded and followed Aurora and Aurora alone back to a small study room off of the hall that obviously led back to their bedroom. She sat down at a small table and gestured to the other side.

"I trust you're curious as to why I summoned you alone and not the heads of all the councils. It is a simple question whose answer is not so simple. This, despite my formality, is not a call for council. It is a request for advice from a King who came into the service of the people after a certain law was put in place, a law that I must now repeal."

"There is only one law that you would need to repeal that would cause you to want to consult me," Billie whispered. "The Forbidden Mating."

"Indeed. Angel has discovered his mate to be my new fledge, Draco Malfoy. The only problem with that is that Draco has the developing mark of the Phoenix Guard. I cannot ask him to leave the Guard because he has not reached the proper age. But, I cannot lose Angel because he is instrumental to our plans," Aurora said softly. Billie could sense the tears that were brewing in her eyes. She sucked in a deep breath. "I need to know everything that happened to lead up to the law. You were prince, old enough to know what was happening despite being many years from kingship."

"I do remember, thank you very much," Billie snapped.

"Do not test me," she hissed, standing up.

Realizing what was happening, Billie backed down. Because Aurora knew what had to be done, but could not do it, she was experiencing what was referred to as Ruler's Syndrome. She couldn't stand being unable to help her people, thus she was beginning to snap and get antsy because of it.

Only those rulers blessed by the Goddess developed Ruler's Syndrome so young, because it required a bond with the people. A bond that usually developed over time, but in some cases had formed upon coronation to those blessed by the Goddess. Ailleacht and Fearg had been the first and last to feel this upon coronation.

"It was nearly a full seven hundred years before I assumed the position of King. I was still new to the life. When my father died, my mother assumed control of the armies and I took over the Phoenix Guard. I know the life you lead, and I pity that our mistake has come to haunt you," Billie began. "I was nearly Spike's age when it happened. We had two young men, much the same as Angel and Draco now, who became mates on the Guard. Three months after the birth of their first child, we were called out to help deal with the feudal wars of England. The younger man was attacked, and the older went to his aid. The younger man died, and the elder mate attacked hordes of marching peasants on his own. He took out a hundred before he was killed."

"I do not wish to insult you, but that was hardly his fault," Aurora said gently. "If you had known that they were mates, you should never have sent them together. Even if the operation called for all of the Guard, you always leave a significant other behind."

"I know that now," Billie said softly, "But I did not then. My mother decided that there had to be a way to prevent such a tragedy. She passed a law through without the approval of council and despite much warning through the Prophets of the Ancients from the Goddess herself. I am sorry that it has come back to haunt you know."

"Do not be," Aurora said softly. "I have been given the chance to fix a mistake made by people who only had the world's best interests at heart."

"What can I do to help?"

Aurora dropped onto one knee, her fists on the ground. She wore a crown of black roses around her head and her eyes were lowered to the floor. Although she had called the meeting of the heads of all councils and the entire high council, she still offered much respect to them. It was her place to bow to the will of the people.

Tonight, however, she needed the council to see the light of her reason.

"Rise, my Lady. It is our place to bow before you," Picies said softly.

"Indeed, it is not. I bow to the will of the people, Picies," Aurora said as she stood. "Tonight, however, is not the night to discuss my respect. Tonight, I have called you for a purpose."

"I assume it is the same purpose for which you called Councilman Armstrong to your rooms in Hogwarts for?" Picies asked.

"The same reason, but his summons was for a far different purpose," she replied. "I sought from him information on a certain law that was passed during his time as prince, a law strongly fought against by this council."

"I remember well the law of which you speak, for it was the death of my brother that caused it," the old Phoenix replied. He sat down heavily and gestured for her to continue, as if the memory overwhelmed him.

"The ties of family are made stronger by the Guard," she said softly. "But the bonds of mating are irreversible. In the eleven hundreds, late in the lives of men but in the budding years of our power, there was a law passed by Queen Olivia Jackson Armstrong. It was the only mating restriction ever to be passed. It reads, 'From this day henceforth until the end of this great nation or the defeat of this law at the hands of a later Royal, no two Phoenix Guards shall be permitted to become mates while both are in the Guard. The eldest of the two mates must resign his position, unless otherwise decreed by the Captain of the Guard.'"

Billie closed his eyes.

"This law was passed because, three days before being signed, a misguided Captain sent two mated Phoenix Guards into the same hell hole to help out a few feudal lords. Since, he and many others have learned this hard lesson, but that does not change the fact that this law, backed by neither the Councils nor the Goddess herself, was signed into being based upon a mistake on the part of leadership. Tonight, I ask for your support to remove this law."

"Surely," spoke a voice in the back, "Something must have prompted this attempt to remove the law."

All eyes turned to look at Victoria's chief advisor, who had betrayed the nation with her.

"Marius," she hissed.

"Indeed, yes, child, it is me," he said, examining his nails. "Have you told the council yet, the steps you took so that you could become Queen?"

"Against the will of the nation, my mother sided with Voldemort. The people had put it to vote once and the right passed," Aurora snapped. "I did the duty I was assigned."

"Cutting out her heart was a nice touch," Marius replied. "Are you certain duty was the only thing on your mind that night?"  
"Indeed, it was not," Aurora snapped. "And I never said revenge was not in my heart when I killed her."

Picies smiled. He, too, had killed a ruler in his life. Revenge ran through the blood of any Captain assigned to assassinate a King or Queen. It was revenge not only for the personal betrayal, but revenge for the people.

"But, to break in to-"  
"Marius, this ill fated attempt to put the council against her is folly," Billie said finally. "All of the Guards know the revenge that surges through the blood of any assigned to kill a Royal."

"You are not my advisor, Marius. You were a traitor to the people, and I order your execution," Aurora said softly. Spike and a Phoenix named Hope grabbed Marius.

"With pleasure," Spike said. Marius was dragged from the room.

"As to what he said, there was prompting that brought me here," she said, addressing Marius's first words. "Angelus, my second in command, is indeed mated to a fledgling member of the Guard. In recalling the law, I knew it was wrong, and I now have a reason for which to go to bat. I believe that anyone with more than two years experience in charge of the Guard, which was all William Joseph Armstrong had at the time of the tragedy, understands that you do not send mates into battle together."

"What will you do to see to it that future generations do not make the same mistake?" Billie called from the back.

"There will be steps taken within the Guard to ensure that mates are not placed on the same squad, nor sent to the same battlefield."

"We must deliberate," Picies said softly. There were growing murmurs in the crowd of Council people, although Aurora could not say for sure whether this was good or bad. "We will call for you when we have decided where our backing lies."


	14. History

**Shorter chapter here, but you get two in the span of a few days. I'm trying to make up for being gone for so long :-) Anyway, we are getting near to the end of this story. I'm estimating that, all told, it'll be twenty four or twenty five chapters plus epilogue and preface. I'm still debating the merits of a sequel at this point, so any input on that would be wonderful!**

**Thanks,**

**TMR**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen- History

Angel and Spike had to support Aurora as soon as she passed out of sight of the Council. They carried her back to the Nest in silence, asking repeatedly if she wished them to summon Harry. Harry, however, was busy learning Occlumency from her father and training with Hope's brother, who had taken the name Despair when he was turned. She refused to interrupt him, even though she had told him that he would be the first to know if she couldn't handle it.

Despite Spike and Angel's concern, it was not the Council's thoughts that worried her.

She could recall the law without Council's approval. She had the backing of the Goddess and that was enough for the people. Marius's death, however, would come into question eventually. She could not prove that he had committed treason. She could not prove he had defied her. She could not prove that he had not had the best interests of the people at heart. However, every instinct she had ever gleaned from training in the Guard told her that to let Marius live would mean the end of her reign before it started. She couldn't risk letting him live, but how could she explain a warrior's instincts to millions of vampires?

"Have Hope kill him quietly," she said finally. "Clean, no mess for any reporters to get a hold of. Then, I want you and two of your best from investigative to go through his office."

"What are we looking for?"

"Something to prove treason."

"Clear your mind," Severus said gently. "It must be blank, empty, and devoid of all thought."

Harry nodded quietly. His focus was absolute this time around, and he wasn't concerned that Snape would attack him unnecessarily. Without a word, he opened his eyes.

"_Legilimens!_"

Snape saw nothing.

When he finally stopped for the night, Harry could hide his curiosity no longer.

"Professor?"

"Harry?" Severus said, and, for the first time since Harry had known him, the older man pulled himself up on the counter in his private lab, looking very much like a teenager. He gestured to the counter across from himself in silence.

"Aurora told me what Dumbledore asked you to do," Harry said softly. "She told me why he asked you to do it, too."

Severus closed his eyes. His intent was for the boy to never know, as it had been for Aurora to never know either. He knew better, however, to hope that she wouldn't tell him. That fight had been an integral part of her life as well as his.

_Aurora's footsteps were soft as a mouse's as she approached her father's desk. She had a bottle of butterbeer that she brought back from the Hogsmead trip, given to her by Rosemerta for her father. It was already open, but she knew he was relaxed enough around her not to notice. This wasn't the first time she had dosed her father with Verituserum, nor would it be the last, of that she was certain. It was the only way to get him to tell her the truth._

_ There was a quarter dose of vampiric Verituserum in the bottle, enough to knock an ordinary person off their feet. For her father, it would be just enough to get him to talk._

_ Silently, she set it down on the desk in front of him. He looked up, and she smiled gently at him. "Break time, I should think. You've been grading for hours."_

_ Severus nodded, and took a swig from the butterbeer._

_ Both their reactions were instant. The taste of Verituserum was normally nonexistent. With its vampiric, high-concentrate cousin, however, there was a subtle taste to it, somewhere between cherry syrup and sour green apple. When added to butterbeer, it changed the flavor enough to be noticeable. Aurora knew her father would know this, and he realized it the instant the abnormally large swallow passed his lips._

_ She bound him to the chair and silenced him before he could finish the spell he'd been muttering._

_ "You've been lying to me, father, as you have been for a while now," she said softly, taking a seat across the desk from him. "You can hate me for this all you want, but I'm tired of the cloak and dagger nonsense. You know I can help you, I know I can help you, so this should be a no brainer for you. You're going to answer every question I have, and you're going to do it truthfully whether you like it or not. This I have ensured, obviously, with the use of a quarter dose of vampiric Verituserum."_

_ Snape struggled against the bonds, but Aurora only tightened them._

_ "There are far worse interrogation techniques I could use. I wouldn't have to do this in the first place if you would just talk to me!"_

_ Snape relaxed against the bonds. In his mind, he knew what his daughter wanted to know. He also knew that she would find out, one way or another. It was only a matter of time. He had never suspected, however, that she would use the tricks she had learned in training with the Guard to interrogate him on the subject._

_ "First, a test question; What is today's date?"  
She removed the silencing charm. "September 24, 1996."_

_ "What task was Draco Malfoy assigned by Voldemort as punishment for his father's incompetence?"_

_ "He was assigned to murder Albus Dumbledore."_

_ "What were the terms of the Unbreakable Vow you took, with Bellatrix Lestrange as bonder, to Narcissa Malfoy?"_

_ "To watch over her son Draco as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes, to the best of my ability protect him from harm, and should it prove necessary, if it seems Draco will fail, carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform."_

_ Aurora seemed to fall flat on her chair. She could only whisper her next question. "Why?"_

_ "Albus ordered me to kill him anyway. He found a Horcrux of Voldemort's and put it on, hoping to harness some of its power. There was a curse on it that would have killed him swiftly. I was able to isolate it to his hand. He has a little less than a year to live. He was hoping to stop the line of the Elder Wand. So, he ordered me to kill him in an effort to cement my loyalty among the Death Eaters."_

_ Aurora released the bonds and fled the room, leaving her father to fight off the after effects._

_ Later that night, as she sat with her back to the wall in the deepest depths of the dungeons, Aurora knew what she had to do. It would be ugly, of course. Her mother would kill her, sure as there are carts to horses, they say, but it had to be done. Her father could not be the one to kill Dumbledore. When the wand did not work for Voldemort, he would come after Severus to gain its power. There was only one way to prevent the line of the Elder Wand from reaching into the far future. It had to be taken by an already powerful witch and destroyed._

_ She stood up and raced along the back dungeon corridors, knowing without a shadow of a doubt what she had to do. Her father could never know, could never-_

_ The thought stopped in her tracks as she saw him standing in her path, facing her, wand drawn. This time, she was the one off guard._

_ "Protego!"  
There were no words spoken by her father, but the flash of blue and green told her that he was trying to use Levicorpus and the binding spell on her. Her shield charm, when spoken, was powerful enough to resist both while she was moving, which she was. She backed away slowly, waiting for the lull when he would attempt to speak reason to her, so that he could hoist her into the air and interrogate her._

_ "You can't stop me," she called. "You know what I'm going to do. You know the only way that this ends."_

_ "I am your father. I can stop you if it is my wish," he replied, but the curses didn't let up._

_ Under her breath, she muttered the only vampiric arcane she could think of. It knocked him flat on his behind as she sprinted past him, vaulting over just out of reach of his arms. Severus Snape stood up in silence and gave chase, even though he knew it was no good. He was fit, but she was a vampire._

_ She spoke no words; the Gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office moved of its own accord as she raced up the spiral staircase. She burst through the door, and Dumbledore turned. Harry was knee deep in memories, memories of Voldemort, and Aurora had to resist the urge to touch him._

_ "I will take on the task you have assigned my father."_

_ Dumbledore's look molded into one of understanding. "You used your unique talents as a Phoenix on him."_

_ "It doesn't matter how I know. The fact of it is that I do."  
"This will cement your father's standing with the Death Eaters."_

_ "It will also be his doom. When Voldemort cannot use the Elder Wand, he will come after my father because he was the one to kill you."_

_ "Then it would be wise to protect him then."_

_ "I cannot protect him and," and here she gestured to Harry, "at the same time. It is impossible."_

_ "My dear, your father has taken an Unbreakable Vow."_

_ "If someone gets to you first, that doesn't violate the Vow," she said darkly, drawing her wand._

_ "AURORA!"_

_ She was hauled out by her ankle, and even Dumbledore's face morphed into that of comic surprise. She stopped at the bottom of the spiral staircase, upside down, her eyes narrowed up at her father._

_ "I was negotiating, and that was rude," she said sharply._

_ "You wish to talk to me about rude? What about spiking my butterbeer to get sensitive information? What about using interrogation techniques from the Phoenix Guard on your own father?"_

_ "It was the only way to get the truth from you and we both know it."_

_ "God damn-it, Aurora, sometimes you don't need to know the truth."_

_ "Where you're concerned, I always need the truth."_

"What do you want to know?" Severus said finally.

"Is it still your intention to see it through?" Harry asked softly.

"It is."

"And you plan to flee the Tower?"

"I do."

"And what happens when he comes for you and she can't save you?"

"I will die."

"You can't do that to her!" Harry shouted. There was the anger Severus had wondered about. It lay not in the fact that he was going to kill Dumbledore, but in the idea that he would lay down and die.

"I assure you, Mr. Potter, that a raised voice will not be necessary," Severus said sharply. "I can do whatever I please; it is my life. As to your concern about Aurora, we have already discussed this. If she can save me, she will do it. If she cannot, she will protect you."

In the Nest, Aurora, too, was remembering the night four months old, just weeks before her budding romance with Harry became a sprint. Their discussion on the matter of Voldemort's murder of Severus was simple; he would do his best to stay alive, she would do her best to save him, and if their best was not enough, she was to protect Harry until the end. And, despite this, despite the Code and her duty and all the other shit she had in her life, Aurora couldn't help but wish there was a way he would accept. He would not take her offer of eternal life, he would not take a vial of potion filled with Great Wolf tears, he would not allow her to kill Dumbledore, and he would not come out as a supporter of the man he was assigned to kill.

There was only one way to protect him.

Despair came in, carting the front half of the dead body of Marius. His brother carried the traitor's feet. They would burn him with the dawn. Both Hope and Despair were excellent warriors, the best on the Guard. They were in her small four person contingent of personal body-guards, although their chief assignment was Harry, who had in all likely cases and scenarios dismissed him because he was with her father. They were the next best to Angel and Spike.

Naobi and Reece were the next two on the chain of command.

Naobi and Reece were not on any particular assignment.

Naobi and Reece were hers to do with what she pleased.

Naobi and Reece could guard her father.

It was not against protocol to assign Guards to her father. It would not be a misuse of power, as they could pose as spies within the inner circle. However, Picies would never approve the use of Phoenix resources to guard a human. Picies didn't have to approve of it, of course. She was the Captain of the Guard, and had already taken steps to insure that others like herself would never again be thrust into a position of such import. Her daughter, the daughter she and Harry alone knew she was carrying, and her children would never lead the Guard without proper training.

She stood, resolute, at the sight of the eldest living Phoenix on the planet in the Nest.

"Keeping in mind that you can repeal the law at any time if you so choose, Council has agreed to support you in this endeavor, swayed in no small part by the immense support the Goddess has shown you," Picies said softly, his arm around her shoulders as they walked through the garden outside the Nest. "But I sense that you have planned something you fear I might get wind of and try to stop."

Picies had been a mentor to Aurora since she was very young. She had never lied to him.

"I am. And I know that you would not approve," she began, "But I will do it no matter the cost, even an old and dear friend such as yourself."

"It cannot be so bad."

"I intend to post Naobi and Reece as guards to my father."

Picies stopped, turning to look at her. "You feel the danger is so great?"

"I feel it will be, come the end of this year. He was assigned, by both Voldemort and Dumbledore, to kill, of all people, Albus Dumbledore himself. The Dark Lord already knows that his wand cannot kill H-Harry. He will seek another way, first by the use of another wand and then by the use of the most powerful of the Deathly Hallows."

"The Elder Wand," Picies said, gesturing for her to continue.

"When he finds that Dumbledore has it, and when he claims it from his tomb, he will find that he is not the master. He will believe it to be my father. Thus, he will kill him with the use of the snake."

"And you fear you will not be able to protect him," Picies said.

"You're taking this better than I thought you would."

"I had parents once too. None had an occupation so dangerous as yours, but they were once in danger as well. I would have posted Guards to them had I been Captain."

Aurora said nothing.

"Have you seen this end?"

"It is fogged. There is a decision somewhere that I do not yet understand, a choice made that I cannot comprehend. I fear it is not this."

"Post Naobi and Reece. Do what you must. Your father is a valuable resource; if he can get Naobi and Ryan in, so too will they be."


	15. Notice

NOTICE:

Okay, so I broke my flash-drive with all my files on it and dummy me never got around to backing the damn thing up. So, until I can afford to take it in and get it fixed or whatever, I'm going to _**attempt**_ to write from memory. I can't promise that I'll get all of the stories that I had up exactly the way that they are on the flash drive, which means that I may have to sit down and re-write them. I also can't promise that the flash drive will be fixed and data will be recoverable. In the event of this latter instance, I will finish from memory. And, who knows? Maybe this is a good thing. The thing was getting a little cluttered anyway…

Who the hell am I kidding?

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Midnight Rhymer & Management


End file.
